loopyloulaura

Meg discovers her husband Oliver does not want children and is devastated by his choice but also by the fact he kept it a secret: she almost feels likes he tricked her into marriage by claiming to want kids too.

She leaves him just before Christmas and when she phones her mum to let her know, Sally informs her that she has left her dad Ted after nearly 40 years of marriage. The spark has gone and Sally is desperately unhappy.

The two women head to Cornwall where Sally and Ted spent their honeymoon. She wants to relive the time she was happiest and decide if the changed relationship is one she can be content with or whether to break up for good. Meg goes with her to get some space to consider her options: does she love Oliver enough to be happy with being a family with no children or should she find someone who wants to have kids?

Single All The Way is a very deep and complex book as it explores relationships and how perspective is so important. Being able to see both sides of the story makes it so difficult to judge who is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, and makes us care about all of the characters.

This book makes it easy to identify with the characters, whether you are Meg’s age or Sally’s. My parents are due to retire and I wonder how their relationship will change once they are both at home. Chris and I have decided not to have any more children even though I want another baby. Some things can’t be compromised on and this book explores the complexities of negotiating relationships in a really thought-provoking way.

There is a festive element to the book but the Christmas setting is a device for evaluating the values you hold dearest and assessing your own life. Family is so important but we only get one chance at life and deserve to find happiness, but not at the expense of others. Love changes over time as do we as people, so we need to adapt our expectations accordingly which could make or break a relationship.

Single All The Way was a lovely book to read and I can imagine a book club debating the issues that are explored within its pages.

Book Description:

Snow is falling, bells are ringing… and my heart is broken. I pick up the phone to tell my mother about Oliver and me. But before I can, she says, ‘I don’t exactly know how to tell you this… But I’m leaving your dad.’

Single together for the first time, 34-year-old Meg and her warm-hearted, long-suffering mother Sally are cancelling Christmas, and running away to a tiny cottage on the Cornish coast. For Meg, it is the perfect place to heal, away from all the mistletoe, while for her mother it has a special, and secret, place in her heart – from a love story that seems a lifetime ago…

Meg and Sally find they’re getting to know themselves, and each other, better than ever before. But as they are unable to resist getting involved in the village Christmas celebrations, they encounter two handsome local strangers.

Sometimes, it’s being away from home that helps you realise where your heart is. What neither woman knows is that, by the time the new year rolls around, one woman will have fallen in love with her husband all over again, and one marriage will be over for good…

An escapist, romantic and heart-warming novel for fans of One Day in December and No One Cancels Christmas.

Author Bio:

Karen King was born in Birmingham and has always enjoyed reading and writing. A multi-published author of children’s books and romantic fiction, her rom-com The Cornish Hotel by the Sea became an international Amazon bestseller. She is delighted to now be part of the Bookouture team. She now lives in Spain and intends to spend her time writing romances while her husband, Dave, grows vegetables and tends to the zillions of fruit trees on their land – when she isn’t sunbathing or swimming in the pool, that is.

http://www.karenking.net/

@karen_king

TRIGGER WARNING: this book deals with rape and forced adoptions

Adele Foyle discovers a back pack containing a diary when she is clearing out her late grandmother’s home. These precious belongings were the property of her mother who died giving birth to her. Reading the diary, Adele is devastated to learn that she was not the result of a teenage passion as she’d been brought up to believe. Instead, Marianne had been gang raped and the men were never brought to justice. Adele goes to her mother’s hometown to try to find out more information.

Marianne was moved to a community or sodality during her pregancy. Other babies disappear or mysteriously die and it becomes clear that the leader is selling babies to America for huge profits. A huge cover up is in place to protect high ranking members of the local community. What are they prepared to do to keep their secrets safe in the past…?

There are big revelations throughout the book, for the characters and for us as readers. A single event from the past has such power over the lives of those involved and has haunted them all for years.

The brutality is often hard to read, both that experienced by Marianne and the threatening behaviour towards Adele in the present. I found it difficult to believe that the events from the past only occurred in the 1990s, within my own lifetime, as they seemed more in tune with older attitudes to unmarried mothers. Yet in Ireland abortion has been legalised within the last month so maybe viewpoints have only just changed and this book carries a political message about women’s ownership of their bodies.

All of the loose ends are tied together by the conclusion of the book which I personally find satisfactory and is my preference for a book’s ending.

The style and tone of this book is completely different to the other book that I have read by author Laura Elliot (The Wife Before Me). The strong characters in this book are the women finding their voice and making themselves heard. The relationship between Marianne and Adele is at a distance, created by a lifetime of constructing an ideal and the reality unfolding in the diary.

Overall, In My Mother’s Name is a very powerful book and an emotionally gripping read.

Author:     Laura Elliot

Book:                   In My Mother’s Name      

Publication Day:  24/10/2019

Buy Links

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07X5FN7XDSocial

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2PmAlV3

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2ZKwvcE

Googleplay: http://bit.ly/2PvZRaG

Description:

A swallow flutters its wings into a dimly lit attic as Adele Foyle stumbles across the secret diary of the mother she has never met, and a shocking account of a crime committed over twenty-five years ago…
With her mother’s words etched in her mind and in the pages tucked into her jacket pocket, Adele delays joining her fiancé for a new life abroad and returns to Reedstown, the last place her mother, Marianne, was seen alive. She has one purpose: to find those who carried out the devastating attack on her mother.

Born into a Mother and Baby home run by Gloria Thornton, Adele needs to first unlock the disturbing chain of events that led to her own birth if she is to understand what happened to her mother.

But news of Adele’s arrival and the diary spread like wildfire amongst the small close-knit community. Old memories are stirring up fresh wounds.

No-one wants the truth to be told. The diary is just a story, they say. Yet as Adele begins to unravel the layers of deceit, the tissue paper lies begin to fragment and her own relationship starts to break down.

Her mother was telling the truth. Adele just has to prove it, even if it puts her own life in terrible danger.

A heart-stopping, intense and emotionally engrossing read that will keep you compulsively turning the pages late into the night. If you read one book this year, make it In My Mother’s Name.

Author Bio:

Laura Elliot is an Irish novelist who writes psychological thrillers and lives in Dublin, Ireland. Her novels are: The Wife Before Me, Guilty, Sleep Sister, The Betrayal, Fragile Lies, Stolen Child and The Prodigal Sister. She has worked as a journalist and magazine editor. In My Mother’s Name is her latest novel published by Bookouture.

Social Media Links:

Website: http://lauraelliotauthor.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elliot_Laura

(@Elliot_Laura)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauraelliotauthor/

Successful newsreader Maddy is on air when she discovers that her husband has been in a serious car crash. Was it an accident? Is it linked to her daughter’s ex boyfriend who threatened him the night before? Is there a connection with his former friend’s suicide? Or was Maddy herself the target, it was her car after all…

It becomes clear when another man is murdered that there is a link with an incident in Portugal over 20 years ago and someone is seeking revenge.

Rachel Hart is called in to investigate when it becomes clear that the crash was not a simple accident. Rachel has a personal conection with Maddy as they first met after Maddy’s daughter attempted suicide and Rachel was visiting her twin Ruth at the facility.

This is the second book to feature Rachel Hart (the first book is Little Girl Missing) and we continue to see her character develop. In this book, she is in a fledgling relationship with a lawyer but she is holding back due to her guilt over the past and the abuse her twin suffered.

Rachel Hart is a good lead, dealing with personal and professional relationships as well as brutal police work. She is hugely likable and respected by us as readers but also by the other characters within the book.

J.G. Roberts reveals the potential murderer during the course of the book and the motive is gradually uncovered. I must admit to feeling sympathy with the murderer, whilst obviously not condoning their actions!

This was a really enjoyable follow up to the first book but would work just as well as a stand alone novel. The writing is fast paced and I liked the way the chapters followed the different characters, police and others, to build the plot development as well as draw us towards the characters emotionally. The style of narrative is easy to read and I found my reading speeding up as the book progressed as I wanted to discover the culprit!

Book Description:

Your husband’s car crash wasn’t an accident…

Maddy Shaw learns the life-shattering news in the most horrific way: live on air. As the shaky mobile phone recording pans over the terrible crash, she recognises her husband Simon’s car in the wreckage… He is critically injured, and she rushes to his side.

Detective Rachel Hart knows how it feels to have a loved one’s life hanging in the balance, and hurries to support her friend. Maddy is distraught about her husband’s accident, and Rachel decides to investigate. It’s not her case, but if she can give her friend answers, she will. But she soon realises Simon didn’t crash because he was distracted, or because a tyre blew. Someone made this happen. Someone who wants Simon dead…

After the discovery of a threatening letter, buried in Simon’s diary, Maddy has to ask how well she knew her husband. Then a new victim is found – an old friend of Simon’s, a man he hasn’t seen in years. It seems a dark secret from their past has finally come to light… The killer has a list of targets, and they are dying one by one.

Rachel must race against time to protect her friend and find the murderer, before another life is taken. But however fast she runs, it seems the killer is always one step ahead. And Maddy must decide if she wants the truth – even if it puts her in the killer’s path…

A twisty and breath-taking thriller for fans of Rachel Abbott, Cara Hunter and Angela Marsons.

Author Bio:

Julia was born in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, and began her career as a professional singer/dancer. This enabled her to travel the world in her late teens storing up experiences she has since included in her writing. Following roles as a hostess on The Price is Right and a member of the Beadle’s About ‘hit squad’ in the 1980s, she became a TV Presenter and filmed features for Sky Sports before launching the QVC shopping channel in 1993 where she still presents today. Having always wanted to write, she penned her first book, a memoir sold on QVC, in 2013 and has since written four full length novels, two novellas and several short stories.

Links:

http://www.juliarobertsauthor.com/

@JuliaRobertsTV

Broken Souls is the seventh book in the DI Lottie Parker series (read my review of book 6 Final Betrayal).

Two apparent suicides are discovered but both are wearing wedding dresses so suspicions are raised that the deaths were in fact murders. One of the women had an 8 year old daughter but she is now missing: has the murderer taken her or has she been abducted by someone else?

Lottie’s personal relationship with Boyd has become complicated. They have agreed to marry biut are keeping it quiet until she feels ready to tell her children and face her superior officer. This has led to tension and Boyd starts behaving oddly, taking time off and making secretive visits to his mother. Lottie thinks he may be having an affair…

There is a careful balance in Patricia Gibney’s narrative between the suspects and the police perspective. This has the effect of allowing us to gain a deeper understanding of their behaviours and draw our own conclusions. There are heartbreaking glimpses into the mind of the killer as we see flashbacks to his unhappy childhood.

The plot is delivered in quite a fast pace through short chapters to represent the urgency of the case, in particular finding the lost little girl. A whole heap of suspects are acting suspiciously so Lottie and her team have a tough job getting them to reveal the truth. The victims and suspects are all linked together in a complicated web of family ties and business dealings.

Broken Souls is full of mysteries and secrets; it will keep you guessing!

Book Description:

Author Bio:

Katie Scott has been promoted and is now a detective, assigned to heading up the cold case department. The first case she chooses is that of Amanda who claimed to have been kidnapped but then refused to cooperate with police after they doubted her in light of no evidence.

Katie makes contact with Amanda and convinces her to trust her, but within days Katie is called to a crime scene with Amanda’s body at its centre. Katie tracks down another potential victim in a psychiatric ward who is too traumatised to remember her own identity. And then they get the news that another victim has been snatched…

Her Last Whisper continues in the narrative style of Jennifer Chase’s previous book in the series, Little Girls Sleeping. Tha majority of the focus is on Katie and her investigation rather than the murderer and victims, although we do have brief chapters showing their perspective to bring out the human element of the case.

Katie remains a strong lead character, supported by her army dog Cisco and new partner McGaven. Her relationship with childhood friend Chad has not progressed since the last book as they have both been concentrating on their careers. Katie’s life is still affected by her army flashbacks and in this book she has a side investigation of trying to locate a fellow vet’s brother (I did wonder if the two cases were linked, suspicious old me.)

The plot is delivered in short chapters which keep the pace flowing quickly and bring new developments to the case with urgency. The conclusion of the book had more explanation than the previous one (which had been my only complaint) so this was a good solid police procedural novel.

Book Description:

Katie focuses her mind, trying to keep another anxiety attack at bay. The victim’s long brown hair is slick and wet, her body rigid in the grass. She looks more like a mannequin than the woman Katie had spoken with only yesterday, the woman she had promised to protect…

When a cold, naked body is discovered by a couple on a jog through the lush woodlands of Pine Valley, California, new recruit Detective Katie Scott is stunned to discover the victim is Amanda Payton – a much-loved local nurse and the woman at the heart of an unsolved case she’s been investigating whilst getting a grip on her crippling PTSD.

Weeks earlier, Amanda had run, battered and bruised, out into the headlights of a passing patrol car. She claimed to have just escaped a kidnapping, but with no strong evidence, the case went cold. The Pine Valley police made a fatal mistake… 

Katie is certain the marks on Amanda’s wrists complete a pattern of women being taken, held captive and then showing up dead in remote locations around Pine Valley – and she won’t let someone die on her watch again.

But then a beautiful office worker with a link to the hospital where Amanda worked goes missing. With only days before the next body is due to show up, can Katie make amends for her past by saving this innocent life?

Totally gripping crime fiction for fans of Lisa Regan, Rachel Caine and Melinda Leigh. Nothing will prepare you for this nail-biting roller-coaster ride…

Author Bio:

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.

Links:

https://authorjenniferchase.com/

@JChaseNovelist