Book-Mad-Mum

  Lottie is tired – tired with her family, tired of trying to make ends meet and tired in general. Mum to three child, she has to stretch the family budget as far as it will go but still things are difficult and the prospect of their house extension grows further and further away, Lottie starts reworking broken household items and selling them on. Husband Henry has been made redundant and can’t bear to break the news to Lottie just before Christmas. Instead, he pretends to go to work as usual while frantically job hunting. The race is on to find another job before Lottie finds out. What a lovely story this was, and I whizzed through it in just a few days as I really adored the writing style and the characters felt real and believable although there were times when I wanted to shout at Henry!! Since reading the book I have discovered it is the second book in a series, which was a complete surprise as it is a lovely stand alone, heart warming tale and I will definitely be adding al

  Connie McCabe is married to GP Devan and she works during the summer months as a guide, conducting tours across Europe. Connie’s marriage to Devan has gone a bit stale, and when he struggles with adapting to retirement, she seeks solace in her time away from home. On the shores of Lake Como she is swept off her feet by Jared, a younger man who is on a tour with his elderly godmother Dinah.   And so begins a long, hot, intoxicating summer where Connie succumbs to temptation - breaking her marriage vows. When she returns home to Devan, she tries to put the affair behind her, but everything starts to unravel, and Jared has other ideas.   This is a story of utter obsession! At the start I felt it moved along quite slowly, but it gather momentum and by the end I was left gasping as I was so surprised with how it finished! There were times when I wanted to shout at Connie as there were so many red flags that she didn’t see, but perhaps she was caught up in the moment, whereas I

  Laura Morrison's life is far from perfect. She is currently sleeping on a blow up bed in her sister’s house and her job as a journalist hangs in the balance as the magazine is being restructured. When Laura is given the assignment of trialling a new high tech dating service called Cupid she is a little apprehensive but she decides to give it a go. On paper her match Adam is perfect…or is he? I’ll be honest from the outset here – I’m not sure if this was the book for me. I was completely captured at the start and it seemed to gather speed but then about half way through it felt like I hit a reading brick wall and the momentum ground to a halt. I absolutely hated Laura’s sister, thought she had such a cold personality and didn’t seem suited to her husband who came across as a little dim, but lovely! Sadly this book didn’t hold my attention enough and felt long and drawn out (sorry!)

  Vanessa has always found it easy to pretend to be somebody different, somebody better. When things get tough in her real life, all she has to do is throw on some nicer clothes, adopt a new accent and she can escape. Her method of escape is to become a different character and go and view houses which are for sale – houses which she can’t afford. After all, we’ve all done it, gone for a nosy around a show home, it’s all harmless fun isn’t it? Well it is until Vanessa is seen running from a house viewing and the police find a dead body inside.   I loved this story to begin with, it was a real page turner and I quickly became involved in the story of Vanessa, the main character who is living under an umbrella of grief, having lost her mother tragically when she was a child. She was extremely vulnerable and when she got involved in a relationship with Connor I was rooting for her and really wanted things to work out. Then about 80% of the way through the book it all changed for me –