Book Review / The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham

 

Everything's coming up roses for Fleur Daxeny, as she goes through more rich men than she does designer hats... if that's humanly possible. Beautiful, charming, and utterly irresistible, her success at crashing funerals to find wealthy men is remarkable. But behind Fleur's Harvey Nichols wardrobe, is a woman with a mysterious past. 

Fleur wastes no time in seducing her latest conquest, the handsome and rich widower Richard Favour, and she swoops into his life like a designer-clad tornado. His children are caught up in a whirlwind as their father's new girlfriend descends on the family estate leaving chaos and excitement in her perfume-scented wake. Soon, more than one family member is suspicious of Fleur's true intentions.
 
Fleur is not one to wear her heart on her Chanel sleeves, but she soon finds herself embracing Richard and his lovable family. But just as Fleur contemplates jumping off the gold-digger train for good and enjoying the ride of true love, a long-buried secret from her past threatens to destroy her new family. Fleur is thrown into a race against time to prove herself to Richard before it's too late.  Can she trust her heart or will she cut ties and run away as fast as her Prada pumps can take her?

 

Published:     5th September 2017
Publisher:  Piatkus Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 45, In Death
Source:  Bought
 

 

MY REVIEW 

 

Having recently read and enjoyed The Wedding Girl, I was looking forward to picking this up.  I was expecting a similar theme/plot where the main character either makes a mistake or has a bad character trait they can't get out of and the rest of the story is watching that play out, and I wasn't wrong.  That didn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.  This was just the type of story that I was looking for at the time and that is what I got. 

What I loved about this story was the main character Fleur.  You can obviously see that she has a problem and seemingly she is ok with it and carries on, irrespective of the people she hurts along the way and those people didn't seem to show that much distress from what I read in what she was doing.  

There were not many characters I liked in this story, for many various reasons, but there was one character that I really disliked and that was Richard's son when he featured more nearer the end of the novel.  He was very pushy and, to put it simply, very annoying.  Now this may have been for good reasons and maybe he was concerned for his father, but the way this character came across I felt was completely unacceptable.

That said, I would highly recommend this if you are looking for a no frills story that keeps you entertained all the way through.

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / The Catch by T M Logan

 Ed is delighted to meet his twenty-three year old daughter's fiancé for the first time. Ryan appears to be the perfect future son-in-law. There's just one problem. There's something off about Ryan. Something hidden in the shadows behind his eyes. And it seems that only Ed can see it.

Terrified that his daughter is being drawn in by a psychopath, Ed sets out to uncover her fiancé's dark past - while keeping his own concealed. But no-one believes him. And the more he digs, the more he alienates her and the rest of the family who are convinced that Ryan is 'the one'.

Ed knows different. For reasons of his own, he knows a monster when he sees one... 

 

Published:     11th June 2020
Publisher:  Zaffre
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought
 

 

MY REVIEW

 

 I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this novel.  I had only read one other book by this author before (Lies - and thoroughly enjoyed that also) was wishing for great things.   As I always hope with thrillers, this kept me at the edge of my seat all the way through.

What I loved the most about this story was the suspense.  This is what kept me at the edge of my seat.  Who is Ryan? Is he bad or good?  What would Ed do to find out?  Just some of many questions I had at the start.  You also have the apparent downward spiral that Ed goes down in his pursuit of the 'truth'.  

If I had to grumble about anything (and its only a very little grumble) I felt that the book felt a bit long for the thriller.  At 431, I would consider that a larger thriller that works well if there is complex scenarios and areas where you need to pay more attention to, but this story I feel could have been cut down to at least 350 and it would still be excellent.

Would highly recommend!  Can't wait to read more from this author!

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

 

Published:     7th April 2020
Publisher:  Quirk Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought 

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

I adore this novel!  Its been a while since I read a horror novel and I am so happy that this was what I had picked up.  I had been meaning to pick this up since it came out back in 2020, but never got around to it, until now.   

Although this a very typical story of someone new coming to the neighbourhood who could be not quite as they seem and a person/people from that neighbourhood goes in hunt for the truth and try to expose the newcomer for this, I loved every minute of the journey.  There are many twists and turns that kept me turning those pages very quickly!  

What I loved the most was the history to the story.  I wont' go into too much detail as that would spoil the story, but there is a certain amount of history that we see and gets revealed as the story goes on that I found fascinating.  Also, that ending!  LOVED IT!

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley-Doyle

One stormy summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hair clips and jewellery, but soon it’s clear that Rose has lost something bigger; something she won’t talk about.

Then Olive meets three wild, mysterious strangers: Ivy, Hazel and Rowan. Like Rose, they’re mourning losses - and holding tight to secrets.

When they discover the ancient spellbook, full of hand-inked charms to conjure back lost things, they realise it might be their chance to set everything right. Unless it’s leading them towards secrets that were never meant to be found . . .

 

Published:     1st June 2017
Publisher:  RHCP Digital
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

I had so much wanted to enjoy this book.  Anything to do with witches, supernatural or spellbooks always stand out to me that I need to give it a go.  I think this is very much one of those novels that just wasn't for me.  I have given this three stars because it was ok and because I did enjoy the writing style; so will look out for other novels by this author and will give them a try.

For me, this story lacked a catch.  Something in the plot or a certain character that would suck me into the story, intrigue me to the point where I need to read more to find out what is going on.  That just didn't happen for me here.  I haven't looked at other reviews for this book yet but will certainly do that once I have finished this so I am not sure how others have found this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

 A fast-paced, thrilling horror novel that follows a group of heroines to die for, from the brilliant New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette's worst fears are realized--someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. 

 

Published:     13th July 2021
Publisher:  Berkley Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

Having only discovered this author recently, I couldn't wait to pick up this latest novel.  I was intrigued about this as having earlier this year read Final Girls by Riley Sager and wondered what Grady's take on this would be.

What I loved with this story was the idea that there is a support group for final girls which is something I had not read before (there may be novels about this somewhere that I haven't come across) and the idea that there is someone out there trying to kill the final girls, I found amusing (and horrified at the same time, of course).  Just when these girls thought they had been through their worst, this then happens!

I have to admit that I did get bored in a few places and by the end of the novel I had predicted most twists and turns, so I would have loved to have had more surprises in this one but I still enjoyed the journey this story took me on.  If I were to recommend what book to read first written by this author I do have to admit that although this was good, his other books are a lot better. 

 

 

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Book Review / Survive the Night by Riley Sager

 

It's November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana's in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it's guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it's to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she's named after, Charlie has her doubts. There's something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn't seem to want Charlie to see inside the car's trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she's sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie's suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?

What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a pay phone and in a place where there's nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing--survive the night.  

Published:    29th June 2021
Publisher:  Dutton Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

MY REVIEW

I can't tell you how excited I was to pick this up.  I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every Riley Sager book that has come out so far.  I was intrigued to find out how I get on with this book as I have seen mixed reviews, so I thought maybe this was a marmite book (you either love it or hate it)!

I read this in one sitting and couldn't put it down.  What I loved the most was the fact that you have Charlie who makes a very dumb decision to hitch a ride, right at the time where her friend has been killed and the killer is on the loose.  Now, you would think this was a very easy story with no surprises or twists as you already have the intended victim and killer in the car.  What else could be surprising?  There were certainly one or two twists that I wasn't expecting.  I have to admit that I did guess the ending but only right near the end and just before it was revealed.

Loved this latest novel from an author who is now firmly on my favourite author list!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / The Wedding Girl by Madeline Wickham

 

 

At the age of eighteen, in that first golden Oxford summer, Milly was up for anything. Rupert and his American lover Allan were all part of her new, exciting life, and when Rupert suggested to her that she and Allan should get married, just so that Allan could stay in the country, Milly didn't hesitate, and to make it seem real she dressed up in cheap wedding finery and posed on the steps of the registry office for photographs.

Ten years later, Milly is a very different person. Engaged to Simon - who is wealthy, serious, and believes her to be perfect - she is facing the biggest and most elaborate wedding imaginable. Her mother has it planned to the finest detail, from the massive marquee to the sculpted ice swans filled with oysters. Her dreadful secret is locked away so securely she has almost persuaded herself that it doesn't exist - until, with only four days to go, her past catches up with her.

Suddenly, her carefully constructed world is about to crash in ruins around her. How can she tell Simon she's already married? How can she tell her mother? But as the crisis develops, more secrets are revealed than Milly could possibly have realised...

 
Published:     9th December 2010
Publisher:  Black Swan
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed most of the novels written by Sophie Kinsella (there are one or two that I haven't got to yet) but hadn't actually picked up any of the novels that she wrote under the pen name Madeline Wickham. 

I really enjoyed this.  You have the main character, Milly, who made a very big mistake when she was younger (which she didn't think was a mistake at the time) and now the time has come where she has to deal with that before she is able to move on with her life.  Just the perfect plot line to have a lot of fun reading!

Honestly, no I didn't like many of the characters in this story and didn't agree with some of the things that were done, said and not done etc but that doesn't really matter.  I don't need to like them or agree with their choices but I did enjoy watching their choices play out in the novel.  

I am intrigued to see how I get on with the other novels written in Sophie Kinsella's pen name...  I am guessing that most of them will be pretty similar but with different scenarios and characters but we'll see...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / Summerwater by Sarah Moss

On the longest day of the summer, twelve people sit cooped up with their families in a faded Scottish cabin park. The endless rain leaves them with little to do but watch the other residents.

A woman goes running up the Ben as if fleeing; a retired couple reminisce about neighbours long since moved on; a teenage boy braves the dark waters of the loch in his red kayak. Each person is wrapped in their own cares but increasingly alert to the makeshift community around them. One particular family, a mother and daughter without the right clothes or the right manners, starts to draw the attention of the others. Tensions rise and all watch on, unaware of the tragedy that lies ahead as night finally falls.

 

Published:     20th August 2020
Publisher:  Pan MacMillan/Picador
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

 

MY REVIEW 

I know it is probably not the season for reading this type of book but I bought it a while ago and have been meaning to read it for ages now, so I decided now was going to be the time!  This is a new author to me, so I was very intrigued to find out how I would get on.

This was an interesting read for me because I liked it but equally I was a bit bored in parts with it.  I did enjoy the writing style and would certainly pick up other novels from this author but this story was really just not for me.  I like a novel with a plot and direction of where the story is going; this was not that type of book.  It really doesn't have a plot (or one that I could see) and was more about character development and interaction, which I do generally like but I just could not connect with any of the characters here and really wasn't invested in what was going on because of that.

That said, as I mentioned, I did enjoy writing and I am intrigued to find out what other books this author has to offer and whether they have a similar theme of no plot or otherwise and how I would get on with that...

 

 

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Book Review / Roar by Cecelia Ahern

 From the bestselling author of P.S., I Love You, a fiercely feminist story collection that illuminates, sometimes in fantastical ways, how women of all kinds navigate the world today—soon to be an Apple TV+ series from the creators of GLOW starring Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Wever, and Alison Brie!

In this singular and imaginative story collection, Cecelia Ahern explores the endless ways in which women blaze through adversity with wit, resourcefulness, and compassion. Ahern takes the familiar aspects of women's lives—the routines, the embarrassments, the desires—and elevates these moments to the outlandish and hilarious with her astute blend of magical realism and social insight.

One woman is tortured by sinister bite marks that appear on her skin; another is swallowed up by the floor during a mortifying presentation; yet another resolves to return and exchange her boring husband at the store where she originally acquired him. The women at the center of this curious universe learn that their reality is shaped not only by how others perceive them, but also how they perceive the power within themselves.

By turns sly, whimsical, and affecting, these thirty short stories are a dynamic examination of what it means to be a woman in this very moment. Like women themselves, each story can stand alone; yet together, they have a combined power to shift consciousness, inspire others, and create a multi-voiced Roar that will not be ignored.

 

Published:     16th April 2019
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

 

MY REVIEW

Cecelia Ahern is one of my favourite authors of all time, so of course I was looking forward to picking up this one.  Unfortunately it one of those that I put under the category of I bought it when it came out but hadn't got around to actually reading it yet..  

As with most books, I don't usually read the description on the back.  I only have a quick glimpse of any wording on the front and leap right in.  Honestly, with this book I wished that I had read a little more into it because it was not what was I was expecting it to be.  Yes it was a book about empowered women, which I want to read a lot more of but the stories in this novel were less realistic than I would have hoped.  You had someone being swallowed up by a floor etc.  

I am going to have to put this under the category of this is just not for me, which I am really sad about because I really wanted to love this.  It was interesting to read but I won't be re-reading it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review / My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

 

Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fifth grade, when they bonded over a shared love of E.T., roller-skating parties, and scratch-and-sniff stickers. But when they arrive at high school, things change. Gretchen begins to act….different. And as the strange coincidences and bizarre behavior start to pile up, Abby realizes there’s only one possible explanation: Gretchen, her favorite person in the world, has a demon living inside her. And Abby is not about to let anyone or anything come between her and her best friend. With help from some unlikely allies, Abby embarks on a quest to save Gretchen. But is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

 

Published:     17th May 2016
Publisher:  Quirk Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

 

 

MY REVIEW

 

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book.  It has been so long since I read a horror novel.  Of course, this book was completely a cover buy.  I mean, look at it.  It looks stunning!  How would I not want to pick it up and read more! This story covers the type of horror that I love to both read and watch.  Horror that is not too gory but creepy and a bit 80s cheesy as well.  

There are so many aspects of this story that I loved.  Firstly you have all of the 80's culture references which, as I was a kid in the 80s, I remembered a lot of them.  Next, there was a great story build up.  Yes I knew that there was something wrong but I wanted to see it play out and see what each of the characters do.  Of course, I also wanted to find out what on earth was going on.   There are so many more that I could list but I don't want to spoil the story for you.

This book was so much fun to read.  I couldn't put this down and actually read it in one sitting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading Book Review / My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix