The Step Mother by Claire Seeber

This was a story that was so unbelievable that it was perfectly possible, plausible and you are then sure that it is happening all around you.

Jeanie and Mathew both have history. Both have teenage children from previous relationships which have gone sour and how! the children seem wary of the new stepmother but Jeanie bends over backwards to try to find a meeting point so that the family can move on. Jeanie however has a past and one she is terrified is going to catch up with her sooner rather than later. It does and then the unraveling of her life begins.

Terrified that all her chances of happiness are drifting away from her, at the same time trying to protect her son who she adores and trying to balance it with two precocious teenagers who seem out to destroy her is the story of the book. Add to this an ex wife - scheming is putting it mildly with many other characters, all equally important and all well played in the story.

The book was a page turner and kept me on my toes till the end.

Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Bookouture for an unbiased review.

Broken Pieces by Kathleen Long

Destiny is alone and proud of the way she came through a lot of trauma. She lost her mother at a very young age, her father disappeared from her life to pop up at long intervals and then disappeared again. Brought up by a loving community, she is today having a thriving carpentry business and is very well settled in her little town, surrounded by people she loves.

The arrival of Albert her father, out of the blue who has decided to stay permanently puts a spanner in the works of Destiny's very orderly life. She is angry and puzzled in turn as to why he should pull a trick like this and expect to be warmly welcomed. A double whammy comes up when a long ago adopted sister turns up with her daughter in tow. How Destiny has to handle a situation with a very ready made family is the story here.

Emotionally the story was trying. We were dealing with relationships which were bitter and acrimonious and an unknown sibling who was very nice but her own tragedy to tell. The story telling was bitter sweet but a very welcome read.

The book was sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review courtesy of Lake Union Publishing.

The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

I only got to the final book in the quartet and wasn't this a good one! It took me a while to finish as its quite a chunkster and I wanted to take it slowly to assimilate the various characters. Everyone was related to everyone else in this story and it took me a while to sort out the who is who.

Elena is bookish, can be easily led and then there is Lila who is exuberant, unstoppable. Naples plays a huge role in the book as this is a city that both women cannot leave. Elena leaves it for a little while, gets married, has her daughters and then moves back. Lila never leaves. Both are successful in their careers - one writing, one business. The backdrop of organised crime, drugs, nepotism, thuggery is all very well depicted as being part of the Neapolitan culture and one has to learn to live and let live with this.

This is a story of a strange friendship between two women - ups and downs and with the vagaries of character thrown in as well. However it survives despite all odds. In many of the circumstances of the story it would seem strange that Elena will return to Lila and go back to the old existing situation despite harsh words, some true, some enigmatic, some forcing Elena to look back critically on her life and loves and to find them wanting. Then there are the personal tragedies in each woman's life - broken hearts from lovers who spurn them, from children who ignore them and finally from the loss of a toddler inexplicably. Throughout it all, the friendship survives.

This was a brilliant piece of writing and though I started with the last book, I will try to track down the other three. 

The Cavendon Women by Barbara Taylor Bradford

 


The sequel to the Cavendon Hall book this takes us into another era. 1926 to 1929 and the background to the story is the major Wall Street crash.  The characters have grown up a little more, everyone is older, not necessarily wiser but there is much happiness ahead for many of the group.

I loved the story telling of the series and was all along hoping that many of the stories will have a happy ending. Everyone has come out of the war period hoping for some happiness and for some of them that is elusive but for the Inghams and the Swanns it marks a new beginning - a marriage between the two families which has never happened for the last two hundred years and hopefully the story will continue happily into the next book (which I have received).

This is such a pleasurable series to read as it takes us into the heart of an aristocratic home. A home which is trying to deal with social changes in plenty and radical ones at that. That the Cavendon family is adaptable and willing to change added much to the enhancement of the story.

The book was sent to me by St. Martin's Press courtesy of Netgalley, for an unbiased review.

Secret Lives of the Barbican by Nathan Field

We have a housing estate which appears posh and secure with thousands of tenants. We are dealing in the story with just three of them. Claire, Dennis and Trixie.

Each of them is a story in itself. Claire feels there is an intruder in her flat - things are moved about, Dennis accidentally takes ecstacy pills thinking they are headache tablets and Trixie is faced with a surprising visit from her cleaner who reveals that Trixie's partner has been also her cleaner's partner for sometime.

Taken over a period of twenty four hours (which was a bit too crammed in with action for just twenty four hours) we look at the three lives and the twists and turns which happen with far reaching consequences. This is definitely not a mediocre day and not routine and you are kept wondering what on earth is going to happen next.

The characters are complex and not what they seem with the exception of Dennis who was completely out of his depth!

This book was sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Silvermac Publishing.

The Girl in the Castle by Santa Montefiore

Set in the 1900s in an Anglo Irish aristocratic family, Kitty is certainly different to the other members of her family. She associates with the estate workers, visiting their homes, true it is surreptitious and always hidden from her mother and sisters. She is more akin to her grandmother whom her mother dislikes. Her mother seems to dislike everyone but she has a special venom towards Kitty and she makes no bones about it.

The story of being fey, of having the second sight is very well put in this story. Both Kitty and her grandmother have it but they do not want it known or spoken about though a few people do realise. They know they are the odd ones out and now Kitty has to live her life, maneuver her way around an ineffective father, a domineering mother and an economic lifestyle which will not support them anymore.

The people of Ireland are rebelling as well and Kitty is caught in the middle. She is siding with the rebels against her own, as her heart and mind are on the sides of the Irish but where this will lead her is the main crux of the story.

The history of the beginnings of the Irish Anglo conflict set against Kitty's own personal turmoil and the history of the Deverill family combines the best of fiction and history. Characterization is superb and the story well told.

Sent to me by Edelweiss.

The Farm at the Edge of the World and The White Cottage Mystery - two short reviews.

The war setting is one I like to read about. It delves into the strength of human nature and all what can unimaginably do to survive. It also deals with parental love and protection and the extent one would go to protect the family.

Will, Alice and Maggie have an idyllic childhood. Two of them are evacuees from London sent to this part of bleak Cornwall but they relish the time they spend there till one small slip destroys their world.

Fast forward to 2014 and Lucy has come back home - trying to come to grips with a failing marriage and an almost fatal mistake in her nursing career. Both have put her on edge and when she is back on the family farm in Cornwall, things unravel bringing the past with the present. The strands which have been so disparate come together in an emotional story.

Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton.





With a cover like that I was entranced!

Eric was a peculiar human being. He collected secrets from people and then used them to make them suffer. It was not financial blackmail. It was his joy to seeing him suffer. When he was found murdered, everyone around him was openly happy and even said so to the detectives trying to solve the case.

In such circumstances with so many possible suspects, how does one solve this crime?

Artfully told, very descriptive of the human spirit this was a new author and series for me.

Sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ)