The Legacy by Caroline Bond #libraryreads #TheLegacy #book #review @Bond2Caroline @CorvusBooks

 

The Legacy by Caroline Bond

Published by Corvus

Publication Date: 1st April 2021

Genre: Womens Fiction

Book Description:

A death in the family rarely brings out the best in people - even the deceased.

Jonathan Coulter planned for his death meticulously, leaving nothing to chance. His will states that his three adult children must decide between them how to dispose of his estate. If they cannot come together over their inheritance, then they risk losing it.

But Liv, Noah and Chloe never agree on anything. And now, with only one weekend to overcome their rivalry, tensions begin to rise.

Why has Jonathan left the decision to them? And why has he made no mention of his new partner, Megan, or the children's mother, Eloise? If he wanted to teach them a lesson from beyond the grave, what is it? And can the siblings put their differences aside for long enough to learn it?

A powerful novel about love and loss, and what we truly pass on to our children.

My Thoughts:

The way people write their will and the way families react always intrigues me. I see it as the last thing in our life we can control - who gets what and the reasons why. The Legacy intrigued me right from the start as the deceased, Jonathan, has been dealt the cruel hand of suffering from Motor Neurone Disease not too long after having had an affair with Megan and divorced his wife. How do you make things fair for everyone when life hasn't been fair on you?

The story begins in the waiting area of the solicitor's office as the 3 sibings Liv, Noah and Chloe together with Jonathan's partner Megan convene to hear what Jonathan decided should happen to his estate.  We get a general vibe of the relationship between them and the personalities of each sibling together with their attitude towards Megan as they sit and wait.

I was surprised that Jonathan's character dealt with things the way he did - we know his decision from the description of the book, however he came across throughout the novel as being quite a control freak so him leaving it for the children to decide seemed rather out of character.  

Through discussions, arguments and revelations we come to understand more about each character. Each of them has their own 'baggage' to deal with in life, some of it based in the affair and subsequent divorce, some carried through from their childhoods, the remainder set in the present day of what life has thrown at them. The fact that the house holds so many memories for the family over such a long period doesn't seem to help - it's still Chloe's home after all. The arrival of Jonathan's ex-wife and Megan's nemesis Eloise is another situation for them to factor in. What are her thoughts and expectations in all this?

The author has balanced the sadness and grief of the siblings and other characters so well against the anger and shock that a loved one's passing brings, especially when it happens so suddenly. I found it to be a very honest and believable story and was pleased at how a potentially explosive scenario with Megan and the children's mother Eloise was handled.  

I found The Legacy to be quite thought provoking and despite the story's subject material there is sufficient depth to the characters and activity going on that it never becomes overwhelmingly gloomy at any point. The setting near the beach in Scarborough sounds lovely too - an area I have never visited but am now curious to explore, perhaps a visit to the cafe that Megan and Eloise find themselves in. The cakes sound fabulous!

About the Author:

Caroline Bond was born at the seaside and still feels happiest when walking into a headwind with the prospect of fish and chips on the near horizon. She had a fulfilling career in research before becoming a writer.

Her debut, The Second Child, was inspired, in part, by her experiences working with, and raising, a disabled child. Her second, The Forgotten Sister, reflects her belief that our life chances are hugely impacted by our upbringings. Her third, One Split Second, explores guilt and forgiveness.

She is a slow, but tenacious runner and not a bad cook.

She prefers red to white wine.

The House Fire by Rosie Walker @HarperCollinsUK @OneMoreChapter_ @ciderwithrosie #NetGalley #TheHouseFire #book #review

 

The House Fire by Rosie Walker

Published by HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter

Publication Date: 6th January 2022

Genre: Mystery & Thriller

Book Description:

Play with fire and you’ll get burned . . .

Who can you trust in this brand new edge-of-your-seat thriller?

A tired old seaside town hiding a series of unsolved arson attacks.

A derelict mansion in the woods with a long-buried secret.

A bundle of old love letters that mask a dark story. 

When Jamie's documentary investigation gets too close to uncovering the truth behind a series of deadly arson attacks that tormented Abbeywick in the 1980s, her family might be the ones who pay the price. 

But for her younger sister Cleo, the secrets Jamie uncovers have the potential to get exactly what Cleo wants: to remove her mum's toxic new husband from their lives, forever. 

All it takes is one spark to send everything up in smoke . . .

My Thoughts:

I chose to read this book as it is a title which caught my eye due to the unusual subject material - you don't tend to come across many novels which feature house fires as their main content.  Intrigued, I dived in.
Sisters Jamie and Cleo are adjusting to life with a new stepdad. Cleo has taken an intense dislike to him however being a few years older Jamie is doing her best to accept him into the family - especially as he works in TV presenting and could be a useful contact for Jamie as she strives to become a documentary maker.
Jamie and her boyfriend Spider have plans to make a film about a series of cold case arsons which happened decades before but when the fires start up again things start to take a sinister turn. 
Evidence begins to come in which implies the arsonist could be much closer to home than any of them could have known but Jamie gets cold feet when anonymous threats are delivered to her home address warning her to back off. Stepdad Ant is pressuring Jamie's mum to send Cleo away to boarding school to try and calm her down and Spider is wanting to take the documentary in a completely different direction to the original plan. Who wants to take the focus away from the fires as the girls start to dig deeper into the unsolved cases? And why?
I really wanted to be gripped by this story but something was missing somewhere. What it is I still cannot put my finger on. There are red flags galore along the way, a stroppy teenager who will do anything to try and remove her stepdad from her family's lives, hints of domestic abuse and narcissistic behaviour but despite all this sense of mystery and threat I still didn't get hooked in completely.
The writing, characters and plot line are all very good and overall I didn't dislike the book but it just lacked the "X factor" for me. 
I wouldn't deter anyone from reading this novel though, I think it must just have been the wrong book at the wrong time for me personally.

About the Author:

Rosie Walker is a novelist who lives in Edinburgh with her husband Kevin and their dog Bella. 'Secrets of a Serial Killer' is her debut novel, "an edge-of-your-seat serial killer thriller that you won't be able to put down".

Rosie has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Lancaster University.

Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond #arc #book #review #Netgalley #AnythingCouldHappen @LDiamondAuthor @QuercusBooks

 

Anything Could Happen By Lucy Diamond

Published by Quercus Books

Publication Date 6th January 2022

Genre: Womens Fiction, Romance

Book Description:

Your big secret is out. What next?

For Lara and her daughter Eliza, it has always been just the two of them. But when Eliza turns eighteen and wants to connect with her father, Lara is forced to admit a secret that she has been keeping from her daughter her whole life.

Eliza needs answers - and so does Lara. Their journey to the truth will take them on a road trip across England and eventually to New York, where it all began. Dreams might have been broken and opportunities missed, but there are still surprises in store...

Anything Could Happen is a warm, wise, funny and uplifting novel about love, second chances and the unexpected and extraordinary paths life can take us down.

My Thoughts:

Lucy Diamond is a born writer; every time I start one of her books I step straight into the world she has penned. No stuttering starts or feeling that each character needs an introduction, you feel like you already know these people and the story just flows right from the first page. This latest book 'Anything Could Happen' is no exception.

Single mum Lara and daughter Eliza have always been close - it's just been the two of them for almost as long as Eliza can remember. Almost - but at one point there was also her dad Steve who left them when Eliza was very young. Lara has noticed that since Eliza approached her 18th birthday she has become quite an angry individual - but all teenagers do at one stage or another don't they? A phase they go through?  This thought prompts Lara to consider her own life story, back to the time when she travelled to New York for work with all the hopes and promises that held. And then the reality which followed.

The characters in this story are very real and believable throughout, maybe the storyline could be seen as perhaps a little predictable by some but it sat well with me.  The situation the characters find themselves in is presented from each person's perspective and their feelings are expressed to the reader in an honest manner. The subject matter could have led the author to make a couple of the characters quite bitter and nasty but I was pleased to see that, although this was an option which was lightly suggested at some points, the characters were better, more self-respecting than that. I don't feel the book would have worked as well had their reactions been different.

I would have loved to be able to sit and read this book in one sitting but sadly this wasn't an option in the run up to Christmas. It is a book which leaves you with that feel-good glow that a good family brings, even if your family set up is not quite the traditional one.

My thanks to the publisher Quercus who allowed me the privilege of reading this book ahead of publication via NetGalley.

About the Author:

Lucy Diamond is an English author of female lead fiction, whose real name is Sue Mongredien.

She grew up in Nottingham, and studied English Literature at Leeds University.

Mongredien now lives in Bath. 

Her first book, Any Way You Want Me, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2007. 

In 2011, her novel Sweet Temptations was shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance.

In 2021, after 14 years with Pan MacMillan, Mongredien moved to Quercus.

Mongredien has also authored several children's books, including books in The Sleepover Club series, the Rainbow Magic series, the Oliver Moon series, and the Captain Cat series.

The Secret by Debbie Howells @AvonBooksUK @debbie_howells #NetGalley #book #bookreview #TheSecret

 

The Secret by Debbie Howells

Published by Avon Books UK

Publication Date: 6th January 2022

Genre: Fiction, mystery, crime

Book Description:

Best friends Hollie and Niamh tell each other everything. Behind the village of Abingworth’s closed doors, every family has its secrets – and their doors might hide the worst ones of all.

One day Hollie tells Niamh about a devastating discovery, swears her to secrecy, then vanishes. The villagers claim to know nothing. But when Hollie’s body is found, the police know one of their number isn’t just a liar, but a killer…

What did Hollie tell Niamh before she died? And who would kill to keep it hidden?

After all, two can keep a secret – if one of them is dead…

A completely unputdownable suspense novel that will leave you reeling at the final twist…

My Thoughts:

Wow! What an absolute corker of a book! More twists than your local theme park rollercoaster and some absolutely horrid characters who make for a great read. Families, close-knit villagers who close ranks when push comes to shove, dubious financial transactions and secrets between friends, not to mention an occasional lie to distract from what goes on behind closed doors. All of this and so very much more kept me turning the pages in Debbie Howells' latest gripping tale so fast that I had whipped through it in under 24 hours. And that is a rarity for me!
Niamh and Hollie are the only 2 teenagers in the village of Abingworth and as such stand out among the residents. They live in each other's pockets, telling each other everything. Yet when Hollie goes missing, Niamh seems to be in the dark as much as anyone as to what could have happened to Hollie. 
The ensuing police investigation uncovers far more than just what happened in Hollie's last hours and involves more of the village's residents than anyone would have expected when that first missing person report came in.
This is definitely a book which you need to put aside a few hours for; get some snacks in, turn off your phone and keep the coffee pot brewed because you won't want to put it down once you get started.
I'm not saying any more than that because the reveals need to happen entirely as the author intended so no hints let alone spoilers in my review. The only thing I will say is BUY IT!! You will NOT regret it. 
Huge thanks for the opportunity to read a prepublication copy of this book via NetGalley.

About the Author:

Having previously worked as cabin crew, a flying instructor and a wedding florist, Debbie turned to writing during her busiest summer of weddings. After self-publishing three women's commercial fiction novels, she wrote The Bones of You, her first psychological thriller. It was a Sunday Times bestseller and picked for the Richard and Judy book club. Three more have been published by Pan Macmillan: The Beauty of The End, The Death of Her and Her Sister's Lie.

Her fifth, The Vow, was published by Avon in 2020 and was a #1 ebook bestseller. 

2021 - my year of reading

 Just a quick (hopefully not too waffly) post to round up the year - I do hope you all received some lovely new books in your Christmas stocking this year. I know I did and I can't wait to get myself settled onto the sofa over the New Year to get stuck in to them. I'm not a big fan of going out to crowded bars or parties, etc to see the new year in so Boris wasn't going to change my NYE plans one iota if he had decided to rejig the covid restrictions. I'm not going to get all political but I do hope the hospitality industry can start to get back on its feet again after suffering for so long, and I wish everyone a very Happy New Year however you decide to see in 2022.

Looking back at 2021 it's been a strange one for me reading-wise. I kind of hit a bit of a wall and lost my reading mojo for most of the year in comparison to previous years.  I've only completed 54 books this year where my previous years have been 80+ titles but amongst the books I've read have been some which will stay with me for a good while.  

A couple of books which were set during lockdown really hit the spot, 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard especially so. I read this via NetGalley a good while before it was published and I couldn't wait for it to hit the shelves to see how it was received by other people. I was therefore delighted to see that it won The Irish Book Awards Crime Fiction Book of the Year 2021.

Another book came along which made me consider how the lockdown would be affecting office staff who were required to work from home yet didn't have a great set-up for doing so, a situation which had never crossed my mind before: Hot Desk by Zara Stoneley blends a difficult work scenario with a bit of an office romance and is a good bit of fun.

The real stand out books for me this year are two totally different novels. One I think because I wasn't expecting to enjoy it quite as much as I did, considering it is based around the concept of euthanasia - and I certainly wasn't expecting to physically laugh out loud whilst reading it either (I still feel rather awkward admitting this, but anyone who's read it will get why I am able to do so. I promise I'm not totally callous!). Exit by Belinda Bauer caught me completely off guard and was just the book I needed to lift me out of my slump. Please, if you haven't read it yet, don't be put off by the euthanasia thing. I promise you will love the story!

My final recommendation from this year's reads is, in contrast, a hard hitting, emotional read. Set in South America it tells the harrowing tale of one woman's efforts to escape the cartels which run the country. She and her young son witness the cold-blooded killing of their entire family and instantly realise they need to escape to the North to safety. My pulse raced and my heart broke for them through the entire book.  Not my usual type of read but boy, has it made its mark on me. On the one hand it is a slow burner of a story yet at the same time I was racing through the pages in order to get the migrants to safety. I don't know how a writer can do that, but Jeanine Cummins certainly managed it here.

2021 has also seen some excellent TV adaptions of novels this year. As many of you know, I don't watch much TV but I have tried to watch some of the thriller adaptions which have hit our screens.  One notable one was the version of the first in Peter James series of Roy Grace novels, Dead Simple. They called it simply 'Grace' and while I felt, as I often do with TV/movie adaptions, that much was left out overall they didn't do a bad job.  More recently was the adaption of Imran Mahmood's You Don't Know Me which I felt was very well done. The casting was excellent and if you haven't read the book you really should. You can hear the young defendant's voice in your head as you read and it will tug at your heart strings as he describes how he has ended up in the dock.

Another show which I enjoyed was The Tower, based on Kate London's book Post Mortem. Again, well cast and quite true to the book in my opinion. Unlike my disappointment of the year which I was SO looking forward to watching however switched off after one episode: The One. I really looked forward to watching however it fell way, way short of John Marrs' excellent writing and didn't do him justice at all.

Anyway, I hope I haven't bored you too much with my standout moments of the year. I'm hoping 2022 will see me reading far more again - there are certainly some good looking books already on my reading list with author favourites for me such as Veronica Henry, Lucy Diamond, Luca Veste, Will Shindler, Lucy Foley, Simon Lelic and Lucy Clarke all with new books planned plus lots of new authors on my radar to try.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my random thoughts about the books I've read again this year, I really do appreciate the support you give my tiny blog. I hope I've managed to find you at least one book you might not have tried otherwise. I'll keep you posted on the ones I feel are worth a read in 2022

Have a wonderful New Year, keep yourselves and your families safe, and happy reading everyone!

The New Year's Eve Party by Hannah Emery @hannahcemery #TheNewYearsEveParty @HarperCollinsUK @OneMoreChapter_ #book #review

 

The New Year's Eve Party by Hannah Emery

Published by HarperCollinsUK, One More Chapter

Publication Date: 17th December 2021

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Book Description:

Resolutions are made
Marriages are broken…

A gripping domestic thriller set in The Cotswolds and perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Adele Parks!

It started with the party…

Frankie, Verity and Alice live in the idyllic Cotswolds community of White Fir Lake, but behind closed doors everyone has a secret they’re desperately trying to keep…

And ended with a bang!

Now, as midnight on New Year’s Eve approaches, the three women will face the consequences of a long-ago holiday, one which changed their lives forever … and threatens to shatter their perfect worlds into perfect pieces.

My Thoughts:

This book has a strong 'Real Housewives' feel about it, with main characters Verity and Frankie living very privileged adult lives despite having both gone through tragedies earlier on. They've been the closest of friends since their schooldays but the reader is soon made aware that each woman has something the other would dearly love to have. But surely that wouldn't be enough for one of them to act in a way which would result in the death of a loved one would it? Questions are asked straightaway when the opening scene of the book is of Frankie's husband Red is found dead at Verity's legendary New Year's Eve Party and the children are rescued from the lake but what are the facts behind the horror that night?
The story moves back and forth in time throughout the book in order for us to understand the dynamics of Frankie and Verity's friendship and the relationships with husbands Max and Red. The information the reader needs is drip-fed along the way so I found it impossible to second guess certain parts of the story whereas other parts are fairly obvious I felt. The time frames are easy to follow though and at no point did I get confused as to where or when things were happening.  
The interesting cog in the wheel is Alice, the new resident in the area who literally crashes into the women's lives when she loses control of her car and hits Frankie's boundary wall. The two women welcome her in and soon Alice and daughter Luna are invited to The Party to be seen at, much to Alice's delight. Why is she so keen to establish a friendship though? Secrets soon start creaking their way out of closets and suspicions form among the group, culminating in the tragic events outlined at the beginning.  The author weaves the story very cleverly and leads things full circle via the highs and lows of the three women's life experiences.
My thanks to the publisher, One More Chapter, for the opportunity to review this novel ahead of publication which I rate as one of my favourite Netgalley titles of recent months.

About the Author:

Hannah Emery studied English at the University of Chester and has written stories for as long as she can remember.
Her favourite things are her family, friends, books, baking on a Saturday afternoon, going out for champagne and dinner and having cosy weekends away.

Hannah lives in Blackpool with my husband and their little girl. Find out more at hannahcemery.wordpress.com and follow her on Twitter @hannahcemery.

Mine by JL Butler #book #review #NetGalley @jlbutlerauthor @HarperCollinsUK #Mine @tasminaperry

 

Mine by JL Butler

Published by HarperCollins UK

Publication Date: 15th May 2018

Genre: Legal Thrillers

Book Description:

Set in the Inns of Court in London, where justice and corruption go hand in hand. J L Butler’s taut, gripping legal drama brims with suspense and obsession, and only you can solve the case…

Fatal Attraction meets Apple Tree Yard. This debut novel will be your new obsession.

Francine Day is a high-flying lawyer about to apply for silk, ambitious and brilliant. She just needs one headline grabbing client to seal her place as Queen's Counsel … Martin Joy. The attraction is instant. Obsessive.

They embark on a secret affair and Francine thinks she can hold it together. But then Martin's wife, Donna, goes missing. And Martin is the prime suspect.

As the case unravels so does Francine, because the last person to see Donna Joy alive, was her.

My client. My lover. My husband. My obsession.

My Thoughts:

Professional people: lawyers, bankers, doctors and the like. We never really think about the person behind the job, do we? JL Butler takes us behind the doors of Chambers, into the world of a barrister who has worked hard to get a good reputation in order to be considered for her dream job of Queen's Counsel. So when the prestigious banker Martin Joy requests that she represents him in his divorce case she is keen to accept the high profile case. It can only help get her noticed. But when Martin's soon to be ex wife Donna disappears, the headlines are hardly the ones Francine had hoped for when she signed up with him.

Francine and Martin quickly grow very close to one another, crossing professional boundaries which are there for a reason. Some people are quick to judge and others can see an opportunity to exploit what they think they know about the couple. Francine knows that this could bring her whole world crashing down but common sense seems to have left the building when she took on this case.

There are a really nice selection of characters in this book. The genuinely good through and through people who you would want on your side - the few that Fran has filtered into her life over years of building up her career and allowed into her personal life. Then there are the new, less attractive ones who have crashed onto her radar whether she wants them there or not. What are their intentions? She doesn't know them well enough to understand whether they have her best interests at heart or their own. We build a picture of the mess Fran's life has become and come to understand why she may have ended up where she is, with detectives on her tail and her oldest friends asking her to step away from them for a while.

I very much enjoyed this book as I genuinely had no idea whether Martin Joy was guilty in assisting with his wife's disappearance or whether she was the epitome of the trophy wife who was trying to manipulate her way into a bigger divorce settlement. The suspense continues right through to the final chapter and not all the loose ends are tied up by the final page. I don't usually like an ending which isn't completely tidy but in this case it kind of suits the overall story.

My thanks to the publisher for initially approving my request on NetGalley however I did actually end up purchasing the book in its final form and this is what my review is based upon.

About the Author:

JL Butler is the pseudonym for the Sunday Times bestselling author Tasmina Perry. Her debut thriller Mine has been optioned by Sony Pictures and is in development with Original Film.

She is a former lawyer and magazine editor and lives in London with her husband, son and too many shoes. For further information on Tasmina Perry or JL Butler visit her website www.tasminaperry.com or follow her on Instagram @tasminaperry @jlbutlerauthor