Guest Review: Talk to Me by Jules Wake

Olivia and Daniel certainly aren’t talking the language of love … 

Olivia has been in love with Daniel forever but, despite her best efforts, they’ve never been able to get it together. Their relationship has always been a series of mixed messages and misunderstandings and the final straw comes when Daniel mysteriously starts dating her flatmate, Emily. Hurt and confused, Olivia resolves to forget her heartache with a spot of speed dating. After all, what could possibly go wrong? 

One crazy stalker later and Olivia’s life is becoming increasingly strange and scary. Can she rely on Daniel to step in when events take a terrifying turn or will their communication breakdown ultimately result in tragedy?

Jules Wake is an author who I have not read before, but I was intrigued by the synopsis of this, her debut novel, and in fact listened to it as an audio book after I spotted it in the local library. It is an interesting combination of romance and suspense, which I thought worked really well.

The main characters in the story are Olivia, employed by a PR agency, her friend Daniel and her lodger and work colleague, Emily. We also meet various members of Olivia's sometimes strange family. Unfortunately, Emily is a rather spoiled and unlikeable person, but Olivia is such a nice person that she puts up with all the mean comments and actions that Emily doles out. I personally would have thrown her out of my flat ages ago. However, Olivia seems to like the quiet life, and is even coerced by her sister into going to a speed-dating event organised by her cousin. Far from meeting Mr Right, the girls pick up a stalker and the whole situation gets nastier and nastier as the story progresses. Throughout the story, you feel that Olivia and Daniel should be together, but for one reason or another, they never seem to get round to talking about their shared attraction for each other - a very frustrating situation for the reader.

I thought that this story was cleverly and powerfully written. I found myself fearful of what was going to happen next with regard to the stalker, and might have been hiding behind the sofa had it been on TV. I even found myself shouting things at Olivia like "don't open the door". It was certainly not one of those books where you could tell the likely outcome by the end of chapter 2! The book's cover gives nothing away either.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but be warned that it will draw you in so that you won't want to put it down. I look forward to reading more stories from Jules Wake. 

Review: The Girls by Lisa Jewell

Dark secrets, a devastating mystery and the games people play: the gripping new novel from the bestselling author of The House We Grew Up In and The Third Wife.

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.

You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.

You think your children are safe.

But are they really?

Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

Review: now everybody knows I am a massive Lisa Jewell fan, this novel has been marketed as being a bit different from the others, as her last novel was and so I did feel a bit of trepidation going into it. But, like all the others, once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down again! This is definitely very different to her other novels, a lot darker and much more of a mystery quality about it but it still has her wonderful writing, her detailed description and her way of unravelling the story in her own unique way, something which is utterly gripping! 

The plot of this one is definitely on the dark side and so don't go into this thinking that it will be a light and fluffy read, there are some shocking revelations in here and you find yourself assuming the worst in people just because of the way the novel has been constructed and so in that way, this novel is a bit of a psychosocial thriller, you imagine the worst but that's not necessarily what you get. In others though this is a story about a family trying to piece itself together again and other families trying to do a similar thing at the same time. 

The whole novels centres around a communal garden and the descriptions of the garden and the summer in which the novel takes place are seriously to notch. You really feel like you are there, can feel the grass beneath your feet and smells the roses of the Rose garden. You feel like you are part of the Han of children that are the main characters in this story. There is one moment in particular where two of the children are going from the garden out onto the street and you really can feel that harsh concrete beneath your feet as they step from the grass to the pavement, just like when you had to come off the field and go back to class at the end of playtime at school! 

It was interesting having children and teenagers as the sort of main characters in this novel, ever though they are obviously a lot younger than I am, I really could relate to them and sympathise with them as the story went on. I almost felt more of an allegiance to them than to the adults on the novel, such is the beauty of this writing. Of course I could feel for the adults in the story somewhat, Clare trying to find a place for herself and her girls, Adele trying to do the same thing and leo just trying to be liked by everyone and be happy, it was an interesting mix. 

This novel is definitely a summer read because of the description of the long days and light evenings, I think if I read this book again when it was cold and dark I would feel really down, missing summer. There is some dark content so reader should go into this one with an open mind. As always Lisa Jewell's writing gets under your skin and so I am sure that whenever you pick up this novel, like me, you won't be able to put it down again! 

Review: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Review: Now this isn't normally my genre but there was so much hype surrounding this book that I couldn't not read it and I'm really glad that I did because this book certainly made an impression on me! The suspense and the action in this book is a slow build but boy when it really kicks in, I was shouting at the characters, shouting at the plot, having to tell other people around it just to release some of the built up suspense!

The book is written in the first person but it jumps around as to which person is talking. Rachel, the girl on the train tends to do the majority of the narrative and so you really feel like you get to know her, get under her skin and by the end of the book you are living the storyline through her, you can't help but get involved. The other characters who provide narrative also add to the storyline and their chapters are written perfectly so you alliance doesn't necessarily switch from Rachel over to them but you can sympathise with them and you are desperate for one of them to give you some more information as to what is going on in the storyline!

This book deals with some pretty big issues, murder, man slaughter, alcoholism, depression, unemployment, infidelity, but none of these are the main part of the book, the book isn't about any one of these things but they are all contributing factors and that is what makes the book so well written, because it weaves all these things together so wonderfully and keeps you guessing right up until the last moment!

For the last 30% of this book you will find yourself racing through it. The book is told thorough various days/dates and two of the characters are written at slightly different times, however, towards the end one character's times catches up with the other and this left me breathless. I was literally shouting warnings to the characters. In terms of gore factor, although this is a thriller and so we know there is going to be some sort of incident but there really wasn't too much blood and violence in this. This was definitely a psychological thriller with characters sitting together having a cup of tea and chatting building up tension that way rather than outright fight scenes!

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would love to see something else from this author in the future. The tension was amazing and the story as a whole was really clever. It will keep you guessing right up until the end and the ending will leave you satisfied but still thinking. I guarantee you will be paranoid for a couple of days after reading this but all for good cause! This book would appeal to those of you who are not thriller fans but also die hard fans of a bit of suspense. This was a really meaty read with everything you could want in a good book.

Review: Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

She could hear men and women shouting. Angry hollers crashed through the soft humid salty summer night. It was somehow hurtful for Mrs Ponder to hear, as if all that rage was directed at her . . . then she heard the wail of a siren in the distance, at the same time as a woman still inside the building began to scream and scream . . .

When a harmless quiz night ends with an act of shocking violence, the parents of Pirriwee Public School can't seem to stop their secrets from finally spilling out. Rumours ripple through the small town, as truth and lies blur to muddy the story of what really happened on that fateful night . . .

Review: wow this was a 15+ hour audiobook and I totally binge listened to this because I just HAD to find out what was going to happen next, talk about suspense! This author knows how to build a story, how to build up tension, like the worst kind of teasing but the best kind all the time same time! It's going to be really hard to talk about the storyline without including any spoilers but I'll trying my best. 

The structure was just amazing. The whole book culminates and climaxes around this trivia night which the mothers at the kindergarten around which the story centres all attend. Each chapter beings with some witness statements from characters about what happened at the trivia night. We don't quite know who is who until we get further into the book and we don't know quite what they're talking about but each little statement and each chapter adds more and more to the plot and the storyline! Each section also tells you how long before the trivia night that section is going to be and so you're really clear how far along you are! Amazing! 

The characters in the books were quite interesting. Essentially they are just normal mothers with normal children starting kindergarten for the first time. Some of them have a decent amount of money but they are the usual middle class mix that you would find at a lot of school gates, some working, some not, some with one child, others with older children, some divorced some happily married, but you know that their circumstances are going to turn out a lot more dramatic than they originally seem. The person who comes along to rock the boat and question their happy little existence is Jane. Jane is a young mum who seems to have some secrets in her past and these secrets gradually trickle out as the story progresses. You only get to find out how her secret really ties into the whole book right at the very end, literally and boy do you get a shocker-I'm saying no more about this apart from the fact that I gasped out loud in my kitchen and that for me is totally awesome! 

There are some difficult issues dealt with in this book including domestic abuse, but as I've already mentioned the characters in the book are the kind you would typically find surrounding any school gate and so this is a very realistic thing for one of the parents to be experiencing. The book also deals with bullying and how parents and teachers deal with this. It was interesting for me because I'm always on the teacher side of this dilemma but this is mainly from the parents side and different characters had different takes on this so I enjoyed this part of the storyline and immersed in the world of these characters, I could see how things became blown up and magnified so quickly!

Overall I really enjoyed this book (incase you couldn't tell) and I think that there is something for every reader to like if they pick this book up. Because of the tougher issues dealt with in the book, it's not a light read but because of the structure and nature of the storyline it is incredibly fast paced. You will gasp at some parts, laugh at others and most probably cry during other parts but what you will get in return is a satisfying ending and a plot to make you think. I really like this authors writing and now intend on reading The Husbands Secret so get more of the fabulous suspenseful moments! 

Review! The Accident by C L Taylor.

The person you trust most may only be telling you half the story …

Fast-paced, suspenseful, this is a book with more twists than a helter-skelter that will keep you reading late into the night. Perfect for fans of Before I Go to Sleep and Gone Girl.

Sue Jackson has the perfect family but when her teenage daughter Charlotte deliberately steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma she is forced to face a very dark reality.

Retracing her daughter’s steps she finds a horrifying entry in Charlotte’s diary and is forced to head deep into Charlotte’s private world. In her hunt for evidence, Sue begins to mistrust everyone close to her daughter and she’s forced to look further, into the depths of her own past.

There is a lot that Sue doesn’t know about Charlotte’s life. But then there’s a lot that Charlotte doesn’t know about Sue’s …

Review: wow this is going to be a really hard review to write without giving anything away. Firstly I wasn't sure I was going to like this book because I had heard so much hype about it and also, it not usually my kind of book, I'm normally put off if the word thriller is used on the back! What a thriller this was too. It was a veritable roller later of emotions that had you turning each sage, eager to find out what had happened! The structure of the story is such that you can't not read on. It consists of present day followed by a flashback taken from the mothers diary. There are also some flashbacks in the present day section of the book, looking back just a few years to events that had happened between husband and wife, mother and daughter. 

The mother is the story is the main character, even though the person who has been hit by the bus is Charlotte, her daughter. I had a really mixed relationship with Sue, the mother. At first I was completely on her side and then with each flashback and look forwards I switched between sympathising for her, thinking she was deranged and completely rooting for someone to come and help her, solve all her problems. The same goes for Brian, Charlotte's dad. He is a politician and so I naturally didn't trust him but I really wanted him to be happy and successful, but also felt he was being unsupportive of his wife and family. I didn't like any of Charlotte's friends, I thought they were all very self-centred but this was a necessary character flaw to allow the story to develop and progress the way that it did! 

There is a very evil character in this story, I'm not sure I've ever had such hatred for a character. I think it's possibly because they remind me of someone I know, but that aside, they were a scheming psychopaths which is obvious right from the moment we meet them. The build up of all the evil things this character has done was one of the most exciting parts of the story, as is finding out about Charlotte and her character. She seems like the perfect straight-laced student but there is most certainly more to her than meets the eye, and reading about her mother searching through her various friends and acquaintances to find out what is highly entertaining. 

The events that unfold are just all so unbelievable and yet entirely believable based on what you already know about the characters and what's gone on before, it's honestly such a thrill to read. I'm not normally a fan of anything so mysterious but it was written in such a way that was just so compelling I was hooked and literally could not put the book down! There are a few bits which definitely made me wince, so horrible was the plight of a victim but overall it was just a really driven storyline. There was even a moment when I gasped 'oh my god!' Whilst reading in a busy airport so I definitely recommend this book to anyone-make it your next read!

To grab your copy, click here