Book-Mad-Mum

  When Adeline receives a wedding invite to her mother’s fourth marriage on the island of Corfu, she despairs and makes the decision not to go, until her father, talks her round! Adeline’s half sister Cassie lives life through the pages of a romance novel the type that her mother, bestselling romance author Catherine Swift writes and she can’t wait for the nuptials. The invites though hold a secret…who is the mystery groom and why all the secrecy behind him? This story is told from the perspective of the two daughters and their mum, and although you will probably guess the twist (I did!) it certainly doesn’t distract from the story and the wonderful description of Corfu and it’s scenery. I initially started this book and then stopped it and read another book in between and now looking back I’m not sure why I did that because when I returned to it, I couldn’t stop reading it!! I also read this when I was lying in bed with Covid, and it transported me on a holiday to Corfu exac...

  Doctor Alison Wilson has moved to a new seaside town from a London hospital to take up the role of Medical Officer at failing hospital Saint Margaret’s. Tasked with shaking things up, she quickly learns that things are worse than they initially seem: patient records are in disarray, staff morale is low, and there’s something afoot that she can’t quite put her finger on… As Alison starts to dig into the hospital’s past, she gradually discovers a trail of lies that runs deeper and darker than she could have ever imagined.   I absolutely raced through this book and really enjoyed it until it got close to the end. There felt to me like a few things were put into the book but were never explained – exactly why Alison left London, it was hinted out that there was more to the story, and that we would find out later but we never did. Also Ed, the ex husband seemed to know a lot of what was going on, and I felt there was more to that story line, but again it was never explain...

  The year is 1896 when life was more complicated than it is now especially for women. Aged 28, main character Violet is seen as an old spinster and her father is concerned that she won’t settle down and get married, but Violet isn’t interested in that life – she wants to work and be independent – which didn’t really happen in that era. Violet sets out to discover what happened to her mother who disappeared ten years previously, and as this is no job for a lady, Violet hires a detective but is this the best thing to do, and is she taking the lid off Pandora’s box? This was a nice gentle read, something that you’d pick up on a Sunday afternoon with the rain beating down outside – it will whisk you away to another lifetime with characters that you will warm to.

  I have always been a massive fan of Catherine Alliott’s book and so was very excited about reading this. Initially I found it quite difficult to get into the story – the first few chapters seem to feature lots of character names and to be honest I struggled with the family dynamics for a bit until I settled into the story. I also found that similar names for characters added to my confusion – we had a Sally and a Susie and then a Rupert and a Rorie! This didn’t help my menopausal brain and I often had to stop and think “Sally? Is she the sister-in-law or the friend?”   The Pink House is a book about love but starts with Emma having a love affair with her husband’s parents country house. It always held a special place in her heart, and when her in-laws divorced, Emma and her husband Hugh made the move from London to the country to start a new life. But country living is not all roses around the door and although it sounds idyllic, cracks appear but we’re talking relationshi...

  Just by reading the first paragraph of this book you will be completely and utterly hooked and will instantly want to know more about the person that is "Strange Sally Diamond". Sally has always been very different from the other children, bullied at school with no ability to make friends she lives on a remote farm with her elderly father. When she does have to go into the village, she pretends to be deaf so that she doesn’t have to interact with anyone. Sally leads a very literal life, and so when someone asks her to do something, she’ll carry out their wishes, to the letter. She does not have the ability to read between the lines, and at the start of the story she doesn’t possess a lot of emotions, but this is something she works through.   Bought up by her adoptive parents, we learn more about Sally’s upbringing and what happened to her previously with her back story. This book will send shivers down your spine and make the hairs on your arms stand up, which is what we...

This felt like a book of two halves - the first was 50-something Alice coming to terms with an empty nest after her youngest daughter Robin leaves home and Alice is left with endless days ahead of her with no substance. She realises that she no longer loves her husband and so embarks on a different, secret life which brings excitement and love back into her life. The second half of the book is set around when Christmas when Robin returns home for the festive season but and never leaves and life takes a different twist and turn for Alice. Set in the 80s this feels like a book of its time - although Alice is in her 50s the way she is described she seems a lot older and quite dowdy and as I'm a woman in my 50s I hope to god, I'm nothing like her! I didn't like her as a character, she came across as being really spoilt and selfish and even her daughter Robin seemed to be quite similar in personality.

    The Village Vicar follows the story of Rosa Quinn who decides on a career change swapping her high flying London, City life and instead dons a dog collar and leads the flock in the Yorkshire village of Westenbury as their new vicar. This is no new parish for Rosa as previously her grandfather was the parish priest there and she was born and raised there alongside her triplet sisters Eva and Hannah.. We hear the back stories of the three sisters as they unfold and it’s amazing how three women who are connected in a very unusual, albeit, complicated way, live different lives. When I first picked up this book, I suppose I was expecting something completely different judging by the title and the book cover (that old adage of “never judge a book….”) I think I was expecting a cosy story of a parish in Yorkshire, a bit like the Miss Read books, however this book was punchy and captivating and I adored every word that was written. There are sad parts of the story, parts wh...