Keep Your Friends Close–Paula Daly

 

Natty and Sean Wainwright are happily married. Rock solid in fact. So when Natty's oldest friend, Eve Dalladay, appears - just as their daughter collapses on a school trip in France - Natty has no qualms about leaving Eve with Sean to help out at home.

Two weeks later and Natty finds Eve has slotted into family life too well. Natty's husband has fallen in love with Eve. He's sorry, he tells her, but their marriage is over.

With no option but to put a brave face on things for the sake of the children, Natty embarks on building a new life for herself.

And then she receives the note.

Eve has done this before, more than once, and with fatal consequences...

Received a copy of this book from Netgalley and I couldn’t put it down!!

The book is set in the Lake District and I can only assume it’s an area that the author knows well as she describes it perfectly. I thought the characters were extremely believable (I loved Aunt Jackie, one of the carer’s who looks after Natty’s Dad). I was gripped from the first page and the twists and turns in the story make it a great psychological read and the ending was well thought out.

Now looking forward to reading Daly’s  previous novel What Kind of Mother Are You.

That Part Was True–Deborah McKinley

 

Reminiscent of ONE DAY meets 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, THAT PART WAS TRUE is a bittersweet story about falling in love and risking it all.

When Eve Petworth writes to Jackson Cooper to praise a scene in one of his books, they discover a mutual love of cookery and food. As their letters criss-cross the ocean that lies between them, friendship and then romance blossom despite Jackson's colourful love life and Eve's tense relationship with her soon-to-be-married daughter. Little by little, Eve and Jack begin to believe that they may have a chance to change their lives and possibly get a second chance at happiness. They just need to actually meet...

 I won a copy of this book in a giveaway from Cherry Picks ( www.orionbooks.co.uk/cherrypicks) It is one of a few books that I've read in a single sitting (in part due to the book being so good and me having cold induced insomnia). It is a lovely story about a relationship between an author in America and a divorced 40 something in England. They only correspond by postcards and later on through e-mail. A very simple story, beautifully written. Although throughout the book they make plans to meet each other and you are left guessing right to the end as to whether this will happen. A great book to while away a few hours.

Ma Polinski’s Pockets–Sara Sheridan

 

Rachel White, a young archaeologist, is left a mysterious legacy of £8 million by an old lady she met in Edinburgh when she was a child. Setting off to discover why, she rocks her stable existence and uncovers secrets about her mother's experiences as a 5 year old in a concentration camp in WWII. What made Ma Polinski leave Rachel everything and will what she finds set her and her family free?

Not sure if this book is Young Adult fiction and I added it to my Kindle in error but it really was very disappointing with a highly implausible exhumation scene. I really wanted to like this book as it was partly set in Glasgow and Edinburgh but sorry it just didn’t live up to the blurb.

Hello

So after about 3 years debating on whether to set up a blog page or not I've taken the big step!!! I'm sure I'll mainly be using this to review and share books which I've read. I also enjoy sewing, knitting and general crafts so may post the odd photo and details about them. Bear with me people (if anyone is actually reading this) while I find my feet and learn how to navigate the new world of blogging.