What Am I Reading? #Week 4

Well, I was going to post one of these every week. But then, I struggled to finish two books in Week 2, before racing through 4 books over the long weekend. It is therefore a fact – I’d get a lot more reading done if I didn’t have to work during the week! It ruins all my fun.

So, what have I got in store for this week?

1. When I Was You by Minka Kent

“After barely surviving a brutal attack, Brienne Dougray rarely leaves her house. Suffering from debilitating headaches and memory loss, she can rely only on her compassionate new tenant, Dr. Niall Emberlin, a welcome distraction from the discomfiting bubble that has become her existence.

But Brienne’s growing confidence in her new routine is shaken when she stumbles across unsettling evidence that someone else is living as…her. Same name. Same car. Same hair. Same clothes. She’s even friended her family on social media. To find out why, Brienne must leave the safety of her home to hunt a familiar stranger.

What she discovers is more disturbing than she could have ever imagined. With her fragile mind close to shattering, Brienne is prepared to do anything to reclaim her life. If it’s even hers to reclaim.”

I’m actually halfway through this one already, and I’m enjoying it. I love a good psychological thriller, and this is definitely one of those. The first half of the story certainly keeps you guessing, as Brienne’s life seems to spiral out of control. Then the twist hits you, and after that, it’s a race against time.

2. Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks

“Daisy and Simon’s marriage is great, isn’t it?

After years together, the arrival of longed-for daughter Millie sealed everything in place. A happy little family of three.

And so what if Simon drinks a bit too much sometimes – Daisy’s used to it, she knows he’s letting off steam. Until one night at a party things spiral horribly out of control. And that happy little family of three will never be the same again.

In Lies Lies Lies, Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks explores the darkest corners of a relationship in freefall in a mesmerising tale of marriage and secrets.”

I am a huge fan of Adele Parks and have read every single one of her books. I would describe them as women’s fiction more than anything else; the majority of them are based on relationships gone wrong and dealing with the aftermath. I’m looking forward to reading this, and the Kindle version is currently only 0.99p!

3. Drowning with Others – Linda Keir

“They have the perfect marriage. Did one of them kill to get it?

Prep school sweethearts Ian and Andi Copeland are envied by everyone they know. They have successful businesses, a beautiful house in St. Louis, and their eldest daughter, Cassidy, is following in their footsteps by attending prestigious Glenlake Academy. Then, a submerged car is dredged from the bottom of a swimming hole near the campus. So are the remains of a former writer-in-residence who vanished twenty years ago—during Ian and Andi’s senior year.

When Cassidy’s journalism class begins investigating the death, Ian and Andi’s high school secrets rise to the surface. Each has a troubled link to the man whose arrival and sudden disappearance once set the school on edge. And each had a reason to want him gone. As Cassidy unwittingly edges closer to the truth, unspoken words, locked away for decades, will force Ian and Andi to question what they really know—about themselves, about the past, and about a marriage built on a murderous lie.”

This was my Amazon First Reads for September last year, so I’m thinking it’s high time I gave it a read. It looks interesting enough – a body found in a lake, secrets from the past. Right up my street! I’ll review it once I’m done.

4. The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood

“Where Romy grew up, if someone died you never spoke of them again.

Now twenty-two, she has recently escaped the toxic confines of the cult she was raised in. But Romy is young, pregnant and completely alone – and if she is to keep herself safe in this new world, she has some important lessons to learn. 

Like how there are some people you can trust, and some you must fear. And about who her family really is, and why her mother ran away from them all those years ago.

And that you can’t walk away from a dark past without expecting it to catch up with you…”

I’ve had this on my Kindle for a while now. The reviews on Amazon look amazing, and I always enjoy a cult-based thriller. Watch this space for my review.

Happy Tuesday! ❤️

Book Review: Daisy Chain by Kirstie Malone

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I do love free things, especially books, so how could I resist?

Jason, Karen, Jessica, Bradley and Veronica have been best friends since their first day at primary school, sticking together through high school and on to their university years, when things unexpectedly begin to fall apart. A popular university lecturer is killed, sending shockwaves through the campus, and Veronica decides that she needs some time apart from her friends, leaving abruptly and cutting all contact. In the aftermath, betrayal and heartbreak tear the remaining friends apart.

Twenty years later, the former friends are brought back together at a school reunion, and long-buried secrets and lies from their past threaten to spill over into present day. Whatever happened to the once vibrant and bubbly Veronica? And can Karen ever forgive Jason and Jessica’s betrayal?

A tense thriller, the story weaves back and forth from the past to the present day, giving the reader a great insight into the characters relationships. A fantastic debut that I couldn’t put down, but I was disappointed that there was no justice for poor Veronica. Maybe in the sequel?

4 stars from me. Highly recommended.

Book Review: The Unremembered Girl by Eliza Maxwell

This book was my Kindle First choice for October. The life of a rather dysfunctional family living in the backwaters of Texas is turned upside down by the appearance of Eve, a young woman who has suffered terrible indignities and abuse from a very young age. Having escaped from traffickers, Eve has been secretly watching the family and studying their relationships, and it triggers a yearning inside her for something she has never had. Caroline, the matriarch of the family, welcomes her into the fold with open arms, and Eve soon catches the eye of Henry, Caroline’s son. This could have been a beautiful love story, but Eve is damaged beyond repair from years of abuse, and it is only a matter of time before things go very wrong. Henry, in the throes of passionate obsession, does his best to clean up after Eve’s tragic mistakes, with catastrophic consequences.

This book was listed as Suspence on Amazon, but I didn’t find it suspenseful in the slightest. In fact, I’m not really sure what it was trying to be. I did feel for Eve, who was extremely damaged, and nobody really tried to help her or even scratch the surface of her many problems. Although the story touched on some very ugly issues throughout, it was never described in any detail and the book managed to retain a fairly innocent quality. But there was a lack of description to all aspects of the book, which is why I found the characters quite two-dimensional. I felt that so much more could have been done with the story, but then I am used to reading pretty raw crime and thriller novels, so maybe it was just a little tame compared to what I’m used to.

I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads. 

Bookworm

So, yesterday these arrived through the post, which I am quite excited about. “Wow, new books!” I hear you think with a massive dose of sarcasm, rolling your eyes. Yes, that’s right. New books. But I think that firstly, I should explain my relationship with books…

I have had a great love affair with books from a very early age, possibly ever since my parent caught me leafing through a catalogue whilst sat on the potty at 2 years-old. I am an avid reader, which surprises a lot of people, who don’t think I’m “the reading type.” Whatever that is! But people do generally tend to misinterpret me a lot of the time, which is another story…

Anyway, me and books. When I was a kid, I read voraciously, mainly pony stories as I was one of those horse-mad kids from a family who unfortunately couldn’t afford to pay for regular riding lessons. So I lived vicariously through stories… Eventually, this wasn’t enough, and I moved onto my mum’s books – Danielle Steel, Catherine Cookson, James Herbert, that kind of thing. I think I read my first James Herbert novel at 9 years-old (The Rats), and adored it. Very soon, having exhausted the local library of pony and animal stories, I moved onto the adult fiction section and scoured the shelves for horror stories. This was before the days of the YA novel, I might add, so there was no bridge between children’s and adults books, apart from the likes of Judy Blume, and I’d read all of them! This is when I discovered Stephen King, Ramsay Campbell, Graham Masterton, and Peter James, and loved them all.

So as you can probably guess, the library is one of my favourite places to be. However, there is another place that I do prefer. The bookshop.

Not only do I love to read, but I also just love books. I love the sight of them, the feel of them, the smell of them.. yes, I sniff the pages of books. It is an addiction, and as addictions go, I think it’s pretty tame, so don’t judge me! The smell of a new paperback is orgasmic. Okay, maybe that is going a little too far, but I did warn you about my relationship with books. 

I own a fair amount of books. I think some people would say, a stupid amount. I have a bookcase in my living room, I have them on the French dresser in the kitchen. They are stacked up on the landing, in my son’s cupboards, and an entire top shelf in my wardrobe is lined with skyscrapers of books. There are even boxes full in my mum’s loft. Did I mention, I love books. I love to read them, I love to smell them, I love to acquire them. And I hoard them, like a squirrel with nuts. At the moment, I have a huge To Be Read pile, yet I still insist on regularly visiting the library, and online shopping at Amazon. Soon, I will run out of room to store them sensibly, and they will begin to pile up in every area of my home. 

I know that I should part with at least some of them, as I will probably never read certain novels again. But I am quite possessive of my property. Also, I am quite proud of my collection.

As far as addictions go, I think mine is veering on the sensible side. It isn’t as if I smoke incessantly, or crave illicit drugs. I love books, and that’s hardly going to kill me, is it? 

Well, unless my collection topples over onto me one day and suffocates me!