Book Review / You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really?Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, You Know Me Well is a story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.

Published:     7th June 2016
Publisher:  St Martin's Griffin
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This book really surprised me.  I went into this thinking that this was going to be a nice easy contemporary read but what I got out of this was so much more.  In this we follow two main characters, Mark and Kate.  Mark needs to step out of his comfort zone a lot more and Kate has lost herself and needs to find herself again.

What I loved about this story is the depth in the main characters and following them as they make their choices in life and help each other out.   This story just shows that it is not only the friends you already know that will stick by you.  You have a possible best friend in the person that you haven't paid much attention but the one that is there at the moment you need them the most.    This book covers so many issues including friendship, love, unrequited love and many more issues that I had not read about before.

A serious but fun read that I would highly recommend.

Book Review / The Winters by Lisa Gabriele

“From the brilliant first line to the shattering conclusion, The Winters will draw you in and leave you breathless. . . . A must read.” —Liv Constantine, author of The Last Mrs. Parrish

Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, a spellbindingly suspenseful novel set in the moneyed world of the Hamptons, about secrets that refuse to remain buried and consequences that can’t be escaped

After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded Long Island mansion of her new fiancé Max Winter—a wealthy politician and recent widower—and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter Dani makes her life a living hell. She soon realizes there is no clear place for her in this twisted little family: Max and Dani circle each other like cats, a dynamic that both repels and fascinates her, and he harbors political ambitions with which he will allow no woman—alive or dead—to interfere.

As the soon-to-be second Mrs. Winter grows more in love with Max, and more afraid of Dani, she is drawn deeper into the family’s dark secrets—the kind of secrets that could kill her, too. The Winters is a riveting story about what happens when a family’s ghosts resurface and threaten to upend everything.

Published:    15th November 2018
Publisher:  Harvill Secker
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

This was a very interesting thriller to read.  What I had expected was a lot of twists and turns and a lot of surprises but that is not what I got out of of this story.  You have a very rich wealthy business man who meets, falls in love and proposes to a young lady who is more at home on a boat than in a castle but that is where she ends up after falling in love herself.  Unfortunately for the new Mrs Winter, there's more baggage that comes with this marriage than she was expecting.   You have Mr Winter's daughter Dani who is a very difficult individual.  Right from the start, you can see that she is trying to make it difficult for the new Mrs Winter to settle in but maybe there's more to her than meets the eye.

I would have loved to have said that the many twists and turns in this book surprised me but unfortunately they didn't.  In one way or another, I had already guessed all of the story as I went along but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the ride.  For me, the best part of the story was the characters.  Watching then interact with each other, learning to like or get along with each other and wondering whether what they know is the truth or not.

A really interesting unexpected read that I would recommend but I would go into this story open minded and not really knowing much about the story.

Book Review / A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Fall in love, break the curse.It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin

Published:     29th January 2019
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1 in a series, hopefully
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

Having recently read and loved Letters to the Lost by this author, I was so excited to see what this was all about.  I am just going to say right now that I absolutely adore this book!  You have three main characters in this book, Rhen (the Crown Prince), Grey (the Crown Prince's Commander) and Harper (the unlucky/lucky person that literally gets pulled into their world unexpectedly. Rhen is under a curse and Grey is sworn to protect him, no matter what.  To break this curse, Rhen has to find someone to fall in love with him.  So far, he has been very unlucky but will Harper be the one?

Although very predictable in a lot of places in this book in terms of romance and action, I just could not pull myself away from this story and actually read this book in one sitting!  It took quite a number of hours, but I did it!  I had to know what would happen next...  This is a very long book and although I would normally say that stories like this don't need to be too long but this was worth every single word and need I say it but could have been longer lol!

Now, this book does have a twist that I didn't see coming right near the end that made the story so much more interesting than I had originally thought (and originally I thought this was very interesting...).  Although it does not say on Goodreads whether this will be a series or not, but I seriously hope that it will be because I need to know what happens next!!!

Book Review / Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks

In the romantic tradition of The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with a story about a chance encounter that becomes a touchstone for two vastly different individuals -- transcending decades, continents, and the bittersweet workings of fate.

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopaedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.

Illuminating life's heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties -- and asks the question, How long can a dream survive?

Published:     16th October 2018
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

Every time Nicholas Sparks announces that he has a new book coming out, I can hardly contain my excitement.  I have loved each and every one of his books, including this one!  Now, this one has a different feel to ones that I have read before.  Nicholas Sparks himself has 'top and tailed' this story with a beginning and an ending.  From what I understand this story, some elements are taken from real life and some are fictionalised for the story.  I am not sure which is which but this is one hell of a beautiful story.

In this story, we follow the story of Hope and Tru.  Hope staying at her parents cottage by the sea to sort out items that she wants to keep before her parents sell it.  Tru having travelled all the way from Zimbabwe to visit the father he never met.  The most beautiful part of this story is the story of Hope and True.  How they meet, how they get on and watching the choices they make as they follow their life paths.

I can honestly say that Nicholas Sparks is the only author that never fails to make me cry reading a novel.  Whether that be tears of sadness or happiness, I always feel emotional at some point during each and every story.  This story is no different.  I am not going to say whether it is happiness or sadness, as I don't want to spoil the story for you but let's just say it was a very emotional read and one that I very highly recommend.

Book Review / One More Chance by Lucy Ayrton

Dani hasn't had an easy life. She's made some bad choices and now she's paying the ultimate price; prison.

With her young daughter Bethany, growing up in foster care, Dani is determined to be free and reunited with her. There's only one problem; Dani can't stay out of trouble.

Dani's new cellmate Martha is quiet and unassuming. There's something about her that doesn't add up. When Martha offers Dani one last chance at freedom, she doesn't hesitate.

Everything she wants is on the outside, but Dani is stuck on the inside. Is it possible to break out when everyone is trying to keep you in . . .






Published:     28th June 2018
Publisher:  Little Brown
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

Now, I am not normally one to pick up books about prison, drugs and rehabilitation.  It is not that they aren't good stories, but they are just not the type of story that I would pick up.  That said, however, there was something about this book that drew me in.

When reading the description, for me it read like this was going to be the story of Dani breaking out of prison to get to her daughter.  Realistically, for me this was not the best part of this story.  The best part was actually learning more about Dani, her background and watching her character grow as the story goes along.  We start off the story by seeing her as a repeat offender, someone who is always going to end up back in prison.  As the story goes on, she changes and really wanting to rather than being forced into change.

Don't let some characters fool you in this story, some are mean and some are friendly but that doesn't mean that they are going to stay that way...   There is also a kind of supernatural/psychic element to it that although it was woven into the story very nicely, I found it very hard to believe that was really happening.

A really dramatic character driven story that you really should pick up...