Book Review / The Girl with the Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson

 

 

 George Foss never thought he'd see her again, but on a late-August night in Boston, there she is, in his local bar, Jack's Tavern.

When George first met her, she was an eighteen-year-old college freshman from Sweetgum, Florida. She and George became inseparable in their first fall semester, so George was devastated when he got the news that she had committed suicide over Christmas break. But, as he stood in the living room of the girl's grieving parents, he realized the girl in the photo on their mantelpiece - the one who had committed suicide - was not his girlfriend. Later, he discovered the true identity of the girl he had loved - and of the things she may have done to escape her past.

Now, twenty years later, she's back, and she's telling George that he's the only one who can help her...

 

 

Published:    4th February 2014
Publisher:  Faber & Faber
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

Now this was what you call an edge of your seat amazing thriller!  I think this author is fast becoming one of my favourites, alongside the likes of Ruth Ware and John Grisham.  There's just something about the writing and the plot that just draws me in!  

 We follow George who after being happily in and out of a good (what I see to be a not very committed) relationship, sees his first love (having met at the start of University) at a bar.  At first he doesn't believe it is her.  Soon they meet and George is drawn back into her world again. 

I picked this up one rainy Sunday and could not put it down.  I just had to know what was going to happen next. 

What I loved the most about this story was the plot.  You have George meet his old love again and after that he gets drawn into her world, sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly.  For me, there were so many twists and turns in this story I could not keep count.  Just when you thought something was true, it wasn't!  Just when you thought the story was finished, it's not!

LOVED THIS! Can't wait to read more from this author.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS) Book Review / The Dawn Chorus by Samantha Shannon (Book 3.5, The Bone Season)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

 

An ebook exclusive which bridges the story between the previous and forthcoming instalments of Samantha Shannon's international phenomenon series The Bone Season

Paige Mahoney and Arcturus Mesarthim have arrived in the Scion Citadel of Paris. Exhausted by her efforts against Scion, Paige has no choice but to remain in hiding, away from the revolution she started, so she can heal and come to terms with her mental and physical scars.

In the confines of a safe house, Arcturus and Paige begin to reconnect after following separate paths for weeks. As they wait for contact from the mysterious Domino Programme – an espionage network operating in Scion – their present begins to mirror their past.

 

 

 

Published:     9th July 2020
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 3.5, The Bone Season
Source:  Owned
 

 

MY REVIEW

There are only a very small handful of series that I will pick up the novellas for.  Normally, I am not one for picking up the books in between the full length novels but this series is one of the exceptions.  Any chance to have a brief glimpse into this world again, I will take. 

We see Paige and Arcturus in this novella where Paige is healing from what has happened in The Song is Rising.  Now this is a relationship between two characters that I have wanted to follow and learn more from.  We watch as Paige heals and Arcturus helps her.    

For fans of this series, this novella is definitely a must pick up.  For those who have not yet read this series, it is best to read the first three books in the series before picking up this novella.  

I can't now wait until the next book in the series comes out now in 2021!

 

 

Book Review / Drink Slay Love by Sarah Beth Durst

 

Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire... fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.

Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast—as the entrees.

The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends—especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache—to be slaughtered? Then again, she's definitely dead if she lets down her family. What's a sunlight-loving vamp to do?

 

Published:     13th September 2011
Publisher:  Margaret K McElderry Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

The last time I read this book was in 2016 and I was in the mood to read something with a sense of humour and something supernatural or like that.  I remembered that I really enjoyed reading this the first time around so I thought I would give it another go.

We follow Pearl who is a teenage vampire living with a vampire family that stills holds firm to traditional vampire values.  Pearl is still trying to figure out who she is.  One day she is staked by a unicorn and soon learns that she can now go out during the day.  That the sunlight does not hurt her.

I really enjoyed delving back into this story again.  For me, this story is so much fun especially following Pearl as she navigates the new world of being a vampire out in the day while the rest of her family can only come out in the night.  There are certainly a few twists and turns in this story too that will keep you on your toes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review / Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?

Published:     30th June 2020
Publisher:  Dutton Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:   Owned

 

 MY REVIEW

 

After reading all of this author's previous works this year, I was so addicted to his writing that I just could not wait until this new book came out.  Normally, I would have read it straight away but I have to admit that I am not too much of a reader when the weather has been hot and even though I bought this when it came out I have been waiting for the right moment to pick it up when it gets a bit cooler!  

I just could not put this book down!  This has all of the elements in a thriller that I really enjoy and actively look for.  We follow Maggie who we see with her parents living at Baneberry Hall when something happens which means that they had to flee the Hall seemingly never to return.  For some reason, her father never sold the Hall and Maggie inherits this.  She decides that she is going to live there to restore it so she can sell it but as soon as she is back things are not what they seem.  

Honestly, what I loved about this story was both the journey that Maggie goes through in this story, from being a kid living at the Hall to being an adult going back to the Hall, and also the very interesting twists and turns this story takes you through. 

It is not often that a twist in a thriller surprises me but this one did and I loved it!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review / The Broker by John Grisham

 

 

 In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world's most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive, there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

 

 

Published:     10th January 2005
Publisher:  Delta
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:   Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

 

MY REVIEW

Having decided to read all of John Grisham's novels starting with his first published and working my way up, I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey each and every book has taken me on.  It has also been very interesting to follow his writing, from book to book, and see his growth as an author.  This book was one of those that I had not picked up yet, so I was reading this for the first time and it definitely did not disappoint.  

I have to admit that I do struggle with stories based on political themes, especially if those are not in the country I am living in, but with this novel it really didn't matter too much.  Everything was told in a way that explained to me what was going on, without being preachy, and made it easier for me to understand what was going on.  

What I loved about this story was the main character Backman, following his story and watching him as he navigates his way through situations that he was being placed in.   You also have the character of Teddy Maynard who while I was reading this I was thinking that I recognised this characters.  Once I had finished reading, I checked out the character and indeed I had come across this character before in The Brethren!  I love it when you have things like this occur in books.

A intriguing and thrilling suspense that I would certainly highly recommend, especially if you like political thrillers.

 

Book Review / Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

Growing up, Kate Priddy was always a bit neurotic, experiencing momentary bouts of anxiety that exploded into full-blown panic attacks after an ex-boyfriend kidnapped her and nearly ended her life. When Corbin Dell, a distant cousin in Boston, suggests the two temporarily swap apartments, Kate, an art student in London, agrees, hoping that time away in a new place will help her overcome the recent wreckage of her life.

Soon after her arrival at Corbin’s grand apartment on Beacon Hill, Kate makes a shocking discovery: his next-door neighbor, a young woman named Audrey Marshall, has been murdered. When the police question her about Corbin, a shaken Kate has few answers, and many questions of her own—curiosity that intensifies when she meets Alan Cherney, a handsome, quiet tenant who lives across the courtyard, in the apartment facing Audrey’s. Alan saw Corbin surreptitiously come and go from Audrey’s place, yet he’s denied knowing her. Then, Kate runs into a tearful man claiming to be the dead woman’s old boyfriend, who insists Corbin did the deed the night that he left for London.

When she reaches out to her cousin, he proclaims his innocence and calms her nerves--until she comes across disturbing objects hidden in the apartment and accidentally learns that Corbin is not where he says he is. Could Corbin be a killer? What about Alan? Kate finds herself drawn to this appealing man who seems so sincere, yet she isn’t sure. Jet-lagged and emotionally unstable, her imagination full of dark images caused by the terror of her past, Kate can barely trust herself, so how could she take the chance on a stranger she’s just met?

Published:     10th January 2017
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click Here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

I just can't stop reading Peter Swanson's novels.  There's just something about his writing style that keeps drawing me in! 

In this story, we follow Kate as she arrives in Boston having agreed to do a 'house' swap with her cousin Corbin.  Of course, nothing goes to plan and nothing is what it really seems to be.  Soon, Kate's stay in Boston turns into a nightmare! 

This story kept me at the edge of my seat for most of the book.  I do have to admit that I had figured out what was happening and what was going to happen just over halfway into the book but for me that was not the best part of the book for me.   Yes, it is good to be surprised with a thriller but if a thriller is written well enough (like this one) it really doesn't matter if you guess what is going on or not.  It is the journey the author takes you on and the characters you meet that make it worth it.   There are certainly some very big skeletons in someone's closet that are not going to stay in the closet for much longer!

I really enjoyed this story.  For me, it was fast paced and I liked the characters so I was certainly invested in finding out what was going to happen next and whether some of them were going to make it...

Book Review / The Binding by Bridget Collins

Books are dangerous things in Collins's alternate universe, a place vaguely reminiscent of 19th-century England. It's a world in which people visit book binders to rid themselves of painful or treacherous memories. Once their stories have been told and are bound between the pages of a book, the slate is wiped clean and their memories lose the power to hurt or haunt them. After having suffered some sort of mental collapse and no longer able to keep up with his farm chores, Emmett Farmer is sent to the workshop of one such binder to live and work as her apprentice. Leaving behind home and family, Emmett slowly regains his health while learning the binding trade. He is forbidden to enter the locked room where books are stored, so he spends many months marbling end pages, tooling leather book covers, and gilding edges. But his curiosity is piqued by the people who come and go from the inner sanctum, and the arrival of the lordly Lucian Darnay, with whom he senses a connection, changes everything. 



Published:     7th January 2019
Publisher:  The Borough Press
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This was one of those books that I didn't know anything about before picking it up.  Every now and then (but not in the current circumstances) I like to pop into my local bookstore and just browse.  I am not going to lie, it was mainly the cover that made me buy it!  I also like books about either famil secrets or secrets that someone needs to discover and this book ticked a lot of boxes for me.

We follow Emmett who is living with his family on a farm but had fallen ill and we see him at the start of this story recovering from that and wanting to get back on the farm.  It doesn't take long for his family to get summoned by the local Binder who says that Emmett is destined to be a Binder also.  Although he does not want to go, his family sends him to the Binder (an old lady in a cottage a little while away) to learn the trade, where people's memories can be bound in books and 'forgotten'.  

As things usually go, things aren't always as they seem and from one thing after another Emmett discovers that there is a book that has his name on it.  At some time in his past, a memory of his had been bound but he was not aware that he had ever done it.  What follows when we discover his secret, was my favourite part of the story.  To avoid spoilers, I am not going to tell you any more about that but it was just a beautiful story. 

This is one of those books that should be devoured slowly, enjoying each and every word, and not speed read. 

Book Review / The Separation by Dinah Jefferies

What happens when a mother and her daughters are separated, and who do they become when they believe it might be forever?

Malaya 1955. It’s the eve of the Cartwright family’s departure from Malaya. Eleven-year-old Emma can’t understand why they’re leaving without their mother, or why her taciturn father is refusing to answer her questions.

Returning from a visit to a friend sick with polio, Emma’s mother, Lydia, arrives home to an empty house ─ there’s no sign of her husband Alec, her daughters, or even the servants. The telephone line is dead. Acting on information from Alec’s boss, Lydia embarks on a dangerous journey across civil-war-torn Malaya to find her family.
​
The Separation is a heart-wrenching page-turner, set in 1950s Malaya and post-war England.


Published:     19th June 2014
Publisher:  Penguin
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

It has been a little while since I last picked up a book by this author but I had forgotten just how beautiful her writing is.  This story is split into two perspectives - the first being from the view of the mother, Lydia, who returns home to discover that both her husband and two children have moved away.  She understands that her husband had got an urgent job in another location and moved quickly with her to follow them when she can so we follow her as she travels the very hard and troubling path.  The second part of this story is that we follow Lydia's daughters as they travel with their father to their new home.

This truly was a heartbreaking story where you have a mother who is separated from her children and not sure how long it will take or whether it is possible for her to see them again.  Along the way, Lydia also meets several other characters including a boy who she is asked if he can accompany her on her journey to safety.  She agrees but there is more to this boy's history than she realises.  

This was such a beautiful story in a mainly sad kind of way and I would highly recommend. 

Book Review / The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon

Bestselling author Jennifer McMahon is back with a gut-wrenching mystery about an architect whose troubled mother has been found 25 years after being kidnapped-by a killer who is still on the loose.

The summer of 1985 changed Reggie's life. Thirteen, awkward, and without a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school's outcasts-Charlie, the local detective's son, and Tara, a goth kid who has a mental hold over Reggie and harbors a dark secret. That same summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother Vera-an ex-model with many "boyfriends" and a thirst for gin-the most, Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body and Neptune disappears.

Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that horrific summer, Reggie doesn't trust anyone and lives with few attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

With her signature style, Jennifer McMahon portrays the dark side of adolescent friendship and introduces characters who haunt the imagination, along with a disturbing web of secrets, betrayals, and murder.

Published:     1st January 2013
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

I've read one or two of this author's books so far and I am loving each one of them and if possible they are getting better and better the more I read (no matter in what order - whether it is backlist or new). 

We follow Reggie in this story and follow her story both in the past and the present day.  In the past we follow her when she is thirteen and her mother goes missing and is presumed to have been captured by the serial killer that is going around chopping off hands, leaving them at the police station and then after a period of a few days killing his or her victim.  In the present, we see Reggie who has moved away from her homedown and is a successful architect.  Now she finds that the mother that she had thought had been killed so many years ago is alive, she goes back to her home town. 

What I loved the most about this story was the plot and how many twists and turns could possibly be in this story.  Just when I thought the story was taking me one way it changes and I was left thinking what on earth was going on and I loved it!  The best part by a long shot was the double reveal twist at the end.  I wasn't expecting it.

A truly spectactular thriller that you need to pick up!

Book Review / All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson

From the acclaimed author of Her Every Fear and The Kind Worth Killing comes a diabolically clever tale of obsession, revenge, and cold-blooded murder—a sly and brilliant guessing game of a novel in the vein of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Patricia Highsmith.

Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an "otherworldly" way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.

Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up of the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.

Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.

Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.

Published:     3rd April 2018
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW 

The more and more I read of this author the more I am just loving his style of writing.  Although there are times in this story were the content was a bit uncomfortable for me but all the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat.

We follow Harry as he finds out that his father has died and the police think it is a suicide.  Harry heads back to his hometown for the funeral, to look after his father's business and to give his stepmother support.  However, as they usually do in these type of stories things are not always what they seem.   We also follow Harry's stepmother Alice and have a glimpse into her past and how she had led up to where she is now. 

There is a twist in the ending of this story but, for me, it wasn't as explosive as I had hoped it would be.  With all the lead up between the past and present, I kind of guessed before the reveal what was going on.  Even though I had guessed what was going to happen, that didn't take away from the fact that I loved this story and enjoyed being taken on the road each of the characters wanted me to go down. 

An amazing thriller that will take you around a few twists and turns.  

Book Review / Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who has captured his heart.

But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else.

Dear John, the letter read... and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life.




Published:    7th August 2007
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This book is both beautiful and heartbreaking and in most cases at the same time.  We follow John who has been brought up by his father alone who rebels against is father and enlists, to get away.  What he doesn't realise is that before he goes he meets Savannah who will change his life in so many ways.

What I loved about this book the most was actually not the relationship between John and Savannah but the relationship between John and his father.  You see them at the beginning of the novel as a relatively normal-ish father and son.  When John grows older he rebels, as most of us do at some point when we are younger.  When John gets back from duty and begins to spend more and more time with Savannah, Savannah opens his eyes to a part of his father that he had never thought about before but explains so much. 

As with most of Nicholas Sparks' novels, there is so much more to this story than just a simple love story. 

Book Review / The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life -- boating, swimming, and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies -- he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door. Despite his attempts to be neighborly, the appealing redhead seems to have a chip on her shoulder about him...and the presence of her longtime boyfriend doesn't help. Despite himself, Travis can't stop trying to ingratiate himself with his new neighbor, and his persistent efforts lead them both to the doorstep of a journey that neither could have foreseen. Spanning the eventful years of young love, marriage and family, The Choice ultimately confronts us with the most heartwrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?



Published:     30th September 2007
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

One of the things that I adore in Nicholas Spark's novels is the simplicity in the romance.  You have Travis Parker who has a great live but no romance.  You have Gabby who has a good live, works hard and moves in next door to Travis.  You just have two people who may not get on at times get drawn together and one thing leads to another.  

This story follows their journey throughout many many years from when they first met to later on when they obviously know each other a lot more.  As with most of Nicholas Sparks' novels there is a touch of tragedy in this story which ties in with the title of this story, The Choice.  

It is best to go into this novel really not knowing much.  Just delve in and let the characters take you on a journey. 

Book Review / The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

After thirty years of marriage, Wilson Lewis, son-in-law of Allie and Noah Calhoun (of The Notebook), is forced to admit that the romance has gone out of his marriage. Desperate to win back his wife, Jane's, heart, he must figure out how to make her fall in love with him... again. Despite the shining example of Allie and Noah's marriage, Wilson is himself a man unable to easily express his emotions. A successful estate attorney, he has provided well for his family, but now, with his daughter's upcoming wedding, he is forced to face the fact that he and Jane have grown apart and he wonders if she even loves him anymore. Wilson is sure of one thing--his love for his wife has only deepened and intensified over the years. Now, with the memories of his in-laws' magnificent fifty-year love affair as his guide, Wilson struggles to find his way back into the heart of the woman he adores.





Published:     2003
Publisher:  Vision
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This is my favourite book of all time and has been since the first time I read it.  If it is possible, I adore this book more and more every time I read it.  I know on Goodreads that this is marked down as being book 2 in a series, the first book being the Notebook and although I would strongly recommend reading the Notebook first as you will have more understanding of certain parts of this story, you don't have to. 

What I love about this book is that it is simply a love story.  A love story about two people who have been together for so long that maybe they have forgotten how to be in love.  There are obvious events that happen in this story, especially the reveal at the end, which I would love to talk to you about but I won't as they will spoil the part parts of this story. 

What I would recommend is that if you are interested in reading this story and haven't done so already, pick up The Notebook first  If you enjoy that you will like his one and you will get a deeper understanding of some aspects of this story and the meaning behind some of the characters' motivations.   I will say that this is not one of those stories that has a lot of twists and turns.  It is purely the journey the characters are going through and the twist at the end is definitely worth following the journey on. 

Book Review / The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks; but there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He can't fall in love.

BookPage calls Nicholas Sparks, "a modern master of fateful love stories," and his phenomenal bestsellers- The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, and A Walk to Remember- have made him one of America's most beloved storytellers. Here, in his newest work, Sparks tells a story about making the greatest commitment of all...loving someone forever.

The Rescue

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks - risks no one else in the department would ever take - to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He can't fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over, as soon as the relationship starts to become truly intimate.

Then, one day, a raging, record-breaking storm hits his small Southern town. Denise Holton, a young single mother, is driving through it when her car skids off the road. With her is her four-year-old son, Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Unconscious and bleeding, she-but not Kyle-will be found by Taylor McAden. And when she wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them: Kyle is gone.

During the search for Kyle, the connection, the lifeline, between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor doesn't know that this rescue will be different from all the others, demanding far more than raw physical courage. That it will lead him to the possibility of his own rescue from a life lived without love. That it will require him to open doors to his past that were slammed shut by pain. That it will dare him to live life to the fullest by daring to love.

In The Rescue Nicholas Sparks weaves his inimitable spell, immersing us in the passions and the surprising complexities of modern relationships-and in doing so, teaching us something about our own.

Published:     2000
Publisher:  Warner Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

Just like with mostly all of the books written by Nicholas Sparks, I have read this book so many times now I know this story by heart but delving into this story one more time was wonderful.

The main part of the story is where we see Kyle disappear and there is then a search to find him.  He is only a young child so it is more a race to get to find him before something bad happens to him.  

What I loved the most was the relationships that build up between Denise and Taylor and between Taylor and Kyle.  Kyle has severe learning disabilities so it does make it difficult if not impossible at times to form new relationships with new people he meets but quite quickly it appears that Kyle likes Taylor.

A truly wonderful story that contains the perfect amount of romance, drama and intrigue.

Book Review / Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace.

But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either...





Published:     5t March 2019
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

I can't tell you how much I loved this book!  I have only read one other book by this author before but I am beginning to see a style coming out in his writing.  I am not sure yet whether it is a style that is going to continue throughout all of his books but I can tell you from the two books I have read so far, I am loving it!  He has a way of telling you what is happening and revealing something major about the story early on so you know but still somehow has a way of surprising me.   I am sure that I am not explaining this to its best potential but you just need to pick up one of his books (and I would most certainly recommend this one) to find out what I mean.

What I loved about this story was her suspense.  You have Hen who have moved into a new neighbourhood but is instantly suspicious of one of her neighbors.  There's an object there that shouldn't be there that might mean that they are living next door to murderers.   What follows is this quest by Hen of trying to find out if they are.  There are quite a few twists and turns in this story that kept me on my toes. 

An amazing thriller that I just could not put down!

Book Review / UR by Stephen King

Reeling from a painful break-up, English instructor and avid book lover Wesley Smith is haunted by his ex-girlfriend's parting shot: "Why can't you just read off the computer like everyone else?" He buys an e-book reader out of spite, but soon finds he can use the device to glimpse realities he had never before imagined, discovering literary riches beyond his wildest dreams...and all-too-human tragedies that surpass his most terrible nightmares.









Published:     12th February 2009
Publisher:  Storyville LLC
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

A very intriguing read.  If there is a story about book or about reading, no matter what happens I am definitely going to pick it up.  In this story, you have Wesley who reads e-books on his reader but he soon finds out that he can do a lot more with his reader.

This was a very short read but there's a lot packed into the pages.   The pacing at the start of the story was a bit slow but it soon picked up and I was hooked.  I wanted to find out what was going to happen next.

This was such a fun read and it does seem to make reference to some other book(s) of Stephen King's so I am intrigued to find out what that is about. 

Book Review / Blockade Billy by Stephen King

 Even the most die-hard baseball fans don't know the true story of William “Blockade Billy” Blakely. He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first--and only--player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game's history.

Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional baseball, and with good reason. Blockade Billy had a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse... and only Stephen King, the most gifted storyteller of our age, can reveal the truth to the world, once and for all.




Published:     2010
Publisher:  Cemetery Dance Publications
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone 
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

There are a few authors that I am very slowly working through their back catalogue.  Stephen King is one of them.  I had read this book before but a very long time ago and I wanted to give it another try, simply for the reason that I couldn't remember reading it.

At 112 pages, this story was easy to get through.  I have to admit that I don't follow baseball and I am not familiar with the sport but, honestly, that didn't really matter.  Yes, there were parts that I didn't really follow because it was all about the sport (and I knew that when I went into this story - so it was expected) but I enjoyed finding out more about Blockade Billy and wanting to find out what his secret was about.

This was a fun read.  You certainly do not have to be a fan of baseball to pick this one up.

Book Review / The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast begins the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned from the Second World War. Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.

Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will stay with you forever.




Published:     5th January 2000
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

It was so good to delve back into this beautiful story.  I can't tell you how many times I have both read the book and watched the movie.  I know the story off by heart now.  Obviously, the book is better than the movie but the movie is good.

What I always enjoyed about this story the most is the love between Noah and Callie right from the day they first met to the very last moment in this story.

There's a lot more I could say about this story but honestly I don't want to spoil any other part of the story.  If you are going to pick this book up, pick it up knowing that it is a love story and don't read anything else about the story until you start to read it. 

Book Review / The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

Julie Barenson's young husband left her two unexpected gifts before he died: a Great Dane puppy named Singer and the promise that he would always be watching over her. Now, four years have passed. Still living in the small town of Swansboro, North Carolina, 29-year-old Julie is emotionally ready to make a commitment to someone again. But who? Should it be Richard Franklin, the handsome, sophisticated engineer who treats her like a queen? Or Mike Harris, the down-to-earth nice guy who was her husband's best friend? Choosing one of them should bring her more happiness than she's had in years. Instead, Julie is soon fighting for her life in a nightmare spawned by a chilling deception and jealousy so poisonous that it has become a murderous desire






Published:     2003
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This is one of my favourite novels written by Nicholas, mainly because as well as including most of his trademark styles of stories but it also adds in a touch of mystery/thriller.

What I loved the most about this story is the plot.  You have Julie whose husband dies and beyond the grave he gifts her a Great Dane who soon becomes her 'Guardian'.  I am not sure whether there is something 'magical' going on here but I did get the impression that the Great Dane could have been her ex-husband has come back to protect her because he knows something bad is going to happen. 

You then have two potential love interests - Mike and Richard.  One is a more down to earth character and one is a bit more mysterious.

Mixed in with that you have someone who seems to be stalking her.  Figuring out who that was kept me hooked throughout the entire story.  Yes, I have read this before but it was a little while ago and I couldn't remember who it was!!

Yes, there is a lot going on but it kept me at the edge of my seat, wanting to keep turning the pages and not wanting to book the book down until the last page. 

Book Review / Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks comes a tender story of hope and joy; of sacrifice and forgiveness -- a moving reminder that love is possible at any age, at any time, and often comes when we least expect it. 

At forty-five, Adrienne Willis must rethink her entire life when her husband abandons her for a younger woman. Reeling with heartache and in search of a respite, she flees to the small coastal town of Rodanthe, North Carolina to tend to a friend's inn for the weekend. But when a major storm starts moving in, it appears that Adrienne's perfect getaway will be ruined -- until a guest named Paul Flanner arrives. At fifty-four, Paul has just sold his medical practice and come to Rodanthe to escape his own shattered past. Now, with the storm closing in, two wounded people will turn to each other for comfort -- and in one weekend set in motion feelings that will resonate throughout the rest of their lives.



Published:     2002
Publisher:  Warner Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source: Owned

MY REVIEW

As with most of the novels written by Nicholas Sparks, this was such a beautiful story of love, romance and tragedy.

This story is basically about Adrienne and Paul who meet one weekend.  We follow them as we discover more and more of their backstory and following their relationship as they grow closer and closer together.

What I liked the most was that this was not one of those love stories that were based on 20-year old somethings.  Adrienne and Paul are in their 40s.  They have already lived a life and certainly both have some kind of baggage before they met.  Not only are they getting to know each other and getting closer, but they have to learn about each other's pasts as well.

A beautiful story that I just could not put down and would certainly highly recommend!

Book Review / A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

There was a time when the world was sweeter...when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats...when something happened to a seventeen-year-old boy that would change his life forever. 

Every April, when the wind blows in from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High. It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he'd fall for was Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's Baptist minister. A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. No boy had ever asked her out. Landon would never have dreamed of it. Then a twist of fate made Jamie his partner for the homecoming dance, and Landon Carter's life would never be the same. Being with Jamie would show him the depths of the human heart and lead him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably on the road to manhood. No other author today touches our emotions more deeply than Nicholas Sparks.

Illuminating both the strength and the gossamer fragility of our deepest emotions, his two New York Times bestsellers, The Notebook and Message in a Bottle, have established him as the leading author of today's most cherished love stories. Now, in A Walk to Remember, he tells a truly unforgettable story, one that glimmers with all of his magic, holding us spellbound-and reminding us that in life each of us may find one great love, the kind that changes everything...

Published:     1st October 1999
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

It was so good to delve back into this story again.  It feels like it has been ages since I re-read this and other novels by Nicholas Sparks.

What I loved about this story is the realistic romance between Langdon and Jamie.  You have two people who would not have normally met or connected with by choice but due to circumstances out of their control they are brought together and slowly they realise that there is more to their relationship than they had bargained for.  This is such a beautiful story with such a sad underlying story.

Even though I loved this story I did find that reading it so many years after it was first published there were a few references in this story that, to me, felt a bit stereotypical against female characters.  That said, this did not put me off the story as, obviously, this story was not written in current times but back in 1999.

A beautiful story of love and tragedy that I would highly recommend. 

Book Review / Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

 The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.




Published:     26th July 2005
Publisher:  Dell Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, Outlander
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This is a story that has become very popular in recent years, especially with the TV show being aired and being very popular.  I had watched the TV show (up to the end of season 2 so far) and thought that I really should pick up the book.  I will be honest to say that at 850 pages this story is very daunting, so I decided to pick this up on audiobook.  I loved it.  The author had a very traditional English voice that sounded just like the actress who plays Claire Randell in the TV show.

Of course, what I loved the most about this novel is the romance - the romance between Claire and Jamie.  At first, it was Claire doing what she had to do to survive in this new time that she doesn't realise how she got there but its obvious that there's chemistry between the two.

I've learned so much in history from this novel (and the TV show).  I am not sure of the accuracy but it is very interesting to learn more about the way of life in Scotland in the 1700s, especially the conflict with the English.  At times, this is not an easy read with the way that they treated the women in their family or community but that was just the way it was back in that time.   This story was also a lot racier than I had originally expected.

I really can't wait to dig into the book 2 to follow the story more and see what more it adds to the world that is not in the TV show.  It may take a while because the audio books are 30 plus hours long!

Book Review / Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

A chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.

Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.

But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookshop in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects—and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.

Published:     3rd March 2020
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

I've heard so many great things and read so many great reviews for this author, I knew I had to pick up one of his novels to give it a go.  What better novel to pick up than his latest one and I am so glad that I did.

I this story we follow Mal who is the owner of Old Devils Bookship in Boston.  He is visited by an FBI agent who explains that she is looking into a series of unsolved murders that might be linked to a blog post that he wrote for his bookstore a while ago which the FBI agent believes the murders are being based off of.   Mal then sets off to try and figure out what is going on and how he is linked to this, although there is always more to the story than meets the eye and there's certainly more to Mal's story than anyone knows at the time.

What I loved the most was the fact that as the murders are happening we are not paricluarly following the murders.  We are following Mal who is discovering that the murders have happened and trying to figure out what is going on.

I loved this story from start to finish.  I just could not put it down!  I really can't wait to pick up more from this author!

Book Review / The Other Mrs by Mary Kubica

Propulsive and addictive, The Other Mrs. is the twisty new psychological thriller from Mary Kubica, the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl

She tried to run, but she can't escape the other Mrs....

Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to small-town Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie.

But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.



Published:     18th February 2020
Publisher:  Park Row
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

After reading most, if not all, of Mary Kubica's novels I am discovering that, for me, I am no longer surprised by any of the twists and turns and can guess what is going to happen at the end most times.  But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the novel, I liked this one a lot.  Its more about the journey of the main character in this story, Sadie, than any revealations that may come later on in the novel.

What I loved about this story....
For obvious reasons, I won't go into too much detail so as to avoid spoilers but I enjoyed following Sadie as she discovers the truth about what has been happening.  This is something that I had not come across much in novels and an expected twist that I throroughly enjoyed watch being played out.

What I didn't like about this story...
Honestly, the middle part of this story, for me, was a bit slow and it did lose my interest a couple of times but I am so glad that I stuck with it because it was completely worth it for that ending.

In summary...
A slow burn thriller with a very interesting twist at the end that was predicable for me but worth the read, for sure.