Book-Mad-Mum

    Georgia and Lydia are both illustrators except that Georgia has a book deal, and Lydia is working in a job she hates in publishing striving to become successful.   When Lydia starts an online business that struggles, Georgia wants to help her - but she also understands Lydia's not the kind to accept a handout. Setting up a fake Twitter account, Georgia hopes to give her friend a confidence boost by posing as a potential customer. When Lydia starts confiding in her new internet buddy “Patricia” Georgia discovers she doesn't know her friend quite as well as she thought and although she knows that she should reveal her identity she is drawn in by the secrets that Lydia is revealing…secrets that could end both their friendship and Georgia’s marriage. AMAZING! I can’t tell you how much I adored this book and I want all my friends to read it so we can talk about it! It is my favourite book of the year so far. Jane Fallon never disappoints her readers with her true to...

East London during the Blitz and when Violet loses her sister in the Blitz, she decides to take her nieces to safety on her aunts farm in Cornwall. Once there she meets Hazel, a woman married to a bully of a husband who was recently gone off to fight for his country. Together they meet Eva who is also running from the dangers of London. The town Porthcurno hides a secret military base, and the three women who all get jobs at the base realise there’s a battle to fight in Cornwall, too. But will their friendship be enough to keep them safe?   I will be honest, initially I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book, as it is so far away from the type of books I usually read however, it blew me away and I absolutely loved it!!! The characters are so well written you immediately fall in love with the good ones, and want to boo and hiss at the baddies!   I’m also ashamed to say that I never knew that Cornwall was bombed so heavily during the war, or played such an importa...

  Addie and her sister Debs are about to set off on a road trip to a friend's wedding in the north of Scotland. With Rodney, another wedding guest car sharing, they have everything ready until at a set of traffic lights, another car slams into the back of theirs, and the driver Addie's ex, Dylan, and his mate Marcus, who are also heading to the wedding. With their car written off,  Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with three hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can't avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship. This was the third Beth O’Leary book I’ve read and is the first one of hers that hasn’t completely blown me away. There were certain aspects of the book that made me smile…truly funny moments, but there were also points in the story when I thought “yeah right, that would never happen.” I also found the “Then” and “Now” settings a little confusing, as it was “Then ...

      Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be- Rose is the responsible one and Fern is the quirky one, but they are devoted to each other and Rose has always been Fern's protector from the time they were small children. The girls mum was a true sociopath who hid her real side from the world making out to everyone that she was the perfect mother, only Rose saw the neglect that she was causing. When they went on a family camping trip with Mum’s new boyfriend and his son Billy, Fern did something very, very bad, and Rose kept her secret and never told a soul. So when Fern discovers that her sister is struggling to conceive, she steps up, and decides to make her sister’s dream come true. Rose however wrestled with the fact that Fern grew more and more independent and became aware of secrets that Rose was keeping from her.   Well, well, well! I can’t tell you how amazing this book was!! Such a fantastic piece of writing that drew me in from the beginni...

  New mum Bridget has returned to work after having 8 month old Grace, whilst husband Tony stays at home looking after the baby. Late one evening, Bridget catches her train home from work only to witnesses something terrible as her train speeds through a station she notices a young girl standing on the platform is bundled into the back of a white van. Immediately Bridget asks her fellow commuters if they saw it and frantically she calls the police who meets the train at the next station. However, Bridget was the only witness and also no child has been reported missing, so she is written off as an attention seeker.  Bridget becomes somewhat obsessed with what she saw and is consumed with finding the little girl, but will trying to save one life cost her her marriage and own family? WOW! WOW! WOW! This is the fastest book I have ever read in my life – in parts, my mouth went dry, my heart was hammering out of my chest, and I was rooted to the spot!! Half way through the book...

  Greenwich Park written by Katherine Faulkner published by Raven Books   Greenwich Park tells the story of three siblings and their partners. Helen and sister-in-law Serena are pregnant and both couples book to go on the same NCT course together. However, Helen, who is married to Daniel, finds herself going alone and meets another mum-to-be Rachel. Rachel takes it upon herself to befriend Helen as she wheedles her way into their lives. The book is written from the perspective of Helen, husband Daniel, brother Rory, his wife Serena and there are odd chapters from brother Charlie and his girlfriend, journalist Kate. The plot is wonderfully written with twists and turns – although it was quite similar to a book I read last year based on two women becoming friends at an ante natal class, however, although the subject was the same, the outcome was different and very gripping. I found myself staying up until very late as I wanted to know the outcome, and the very last line of the ...

    Chasing The Italian Dream – written by Jo Thomas and published by Corgi I have been on many holidays with Jo Thomas, she’s taken me to a German Christmas market, to some gorgeous lavender fields in France, and now this time, she has whisked me away to a small village in Southern Italy, introducing me to all her friends on the way. This time, no Air B&B was needed as we stayed with Lucia and her Nonno and Nonna.   Lucia is a lawyer working tirelessly for her firm in Wales – while she is waiting for an email to ping into her inbox to tell her she’s been promoted, she takes her annual holiday to visit her grandparents who run a pizzeria in a small village just outside Naples. Whilst there, she receives two bits of life changing news…she was overlooked for the promotion at work, and Nonno has decided to retire and as there is no male in the family who wishes to take over the running of the business, he is forced to sell up. When Lucia’s ex husband turns up t...

    A fter a series of miscarriages, Kate’s marriage is hanging by a thread. When her husband Michael reveals that the daughter he abandoned twenty years ago is coming to stay Kate is unsure who she feels about it. Within hours of the news, Immy arrives - her new stepdaughter is beautiful but troubled and seems wary of her own father. All the same, Kate is pleased to find herself connecting with Imogen, until one day, Imogen reveals a disturbing secret to her stepmother, making her swear never to tell a soul. With Kate already keeping secrets of her own, she worries her marriage will crumble under the weight of another. But perhaps it’s not Imogen’s intrusion Kate should be worried about. Perhaps it’s Michael’s past she should have been looking at all along…   I read The Pupil by the same author   and gave it a five star review, so I was really excited to start this one. The description marked it out as a Psychological Thriller, however I don’t think it w...