Book-Mad-Mum

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena My rating: 4 of 5 stars Anne and Marco attend a dinner party at their neighbours house, leaving six month old baby Cora sleeping peacefully in her cot at home. Taking the baby monitor with them, and checking on her every half an hour, they settle down for a fun evening with their friends. When they return home at the end of the evening, they realise that their adorable baby has gone, her cot is empty, and Cora is no where to be found. The police are called and started unravelling the evening, and it is then that Pandora's box is opened. This is a great debut thriller from Shari Lapena, and was a real page turner with lots of twists and turns. If I'm honest, I was completely hooked at the beginning and then about 3/4 of the way through it, my mind started to wander and it didn't fully hold my attention to the end, but I think that's because I guessed the outcome, and was just waiting to see if I was...

Some Kind of Wonderful by Giovanna Fletcher My rating: 4 of 5 stars Lizzy and Ian have been a couple for as long as anyone can remember, and it appears to everyone that a marriage proposal is the next step. A romantic trip to Dubai surely is the perfect setting for the question to be popped?! But instead of the happy-ever-after moment, Ian confesses to Lizzy that he doesn't feel the same way as she does, and that he's not sure that he wants to be with her any more. After the initial shock of now being a singleton, Lizzy realises that Ian had many flaws and that she often went along with his decisions rather than speak out, and so she decides to rediscover the girl who used to wear shocking outfits and dance like a loon to Bananarama...she decides to live life and have fun again! I adored this book - it mirrored a part of my younger life, when my partner of nine years suddenly declared he didn't love me any more and off he went - I wish I ...

The Evacuee Christmas by Katie King My rating: 4 of 5 stars Twins Connie and Jessie live with their parents Barbara and Ted at Number 5 Jubilee Street in Bermondsey, South East London, and are quite a close knit family. With War looming, the family face a tough decision - do they stick together during the bombing, or do they split up for safety reasons. Ten year old Connie is determined to prove to her parents that she can look after her quieter brother Jessie. They get shipped off to Harrogate in Yorkshire with their pregnant Aunt Peggy and are billeted with the local vicar Roger, his wife Mabel and their troublesome son Tommy. Enemies and friendships are made but the city children discover that life is a little different to that back on the streets of London, and the Yorkshire children decide that they don't like the newbies taking over their town. Will life ever settle down especially in the run up to Christmas? I really liked this book, it wa...