Synopsis:Whilst on a group holiday with their parents to Thailand, six teenagers – Jessie, Danny, Honor, Milo, Meg, and Jeffers – get stranded on an island after their guide has a stroke and dies. Over the next 6 days tensions rise as the phobias of each of the characters come true and the group turns on each other to try and figure out what is going on and who is to blame.
Review: This story helped remind me why I enjoy YA books so much. It was easy to read, fast-paced and completely gripping – I read the entire thing in one sitting because I was so desperate to see what was going to happen.
Jess’s acting dreams were derailed as a teenager when her mum became blind and Jess stepped in as her primary carer leaving her education behind. Silver Linings follows the actress, model and reality TV star on a journey of self-discovery, harsh lessons and heart-break since childhood. From supporting her alcoholic father to losing her baby nephew, betrayal by her ex-husband, and her own mental health issues. Silver Linings is an inspiring, authentic, powerful, raw book about following your dreams, smashing down challenges, and celebrating kindness.
Review: First of all, I should probably say that I have never read a memoir before, and I had no idea who Jess Impiazzi was. For these reasons, I was somewhat dubious about reading this book as I was unsure whether it would be my style. However, I had no reason to be concerned. I found my lack of knowledge about who Jess was as a celebrity beneficial as it meant I had no preconceptions about what she was like which enabled me to fully embrace the brave, strong woman that is presented in this book. And getting to read her memoir was so interesting as it offered an ‘unfiltered’ glimpse into her life.
‘Some secrets were meant to be buried forever. Until now.’
Sean Richardson, a disgraced former intelligence agent, is tasked to lead a team to search for a British intelligence officer on the cusp of exposing thousands of secrets to the media. It includes a long lost list of Russian moles embedded since the Cold War, one of whom remains a public favourite in the British parliamentary system.
The action moves with absorbing pace and intrigue across Central Asia and Europe as the puzzle begins to unfold through a deep hidden legacy. As Sean gets closer to the truth, senior figures are left to nurse their anxiety knowing that if the secret is revealed, it will destroy their lives.
On the verge of success, his eye is taken off the ball, and the Russians step forward ready to pounce.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Review: I initially struggled to get stuck into this book as you get thrown into the deep end with so much action that it becomes a little confusing. However, I am so glad I stuck with it. Once the main plot is reached where Sean is tasked to find UK intelligence agent Alfie before he can leak top-secret government information this book becomes impossible to put down.
Synopsis:Miles and Sophie’s married life gets turned upside down we he is accused of sexually assaulting a pupil at the school where he has been a teacher for many years. Faced with uncertainty, Miles and Sophie must leave their home on the school grounds, and with it, the comfortable life that they have grown accustomed to.
The allegation Miles faces begins to take its toll on his marriage as Sophie starts to question whether he is capable of such actions. As Miles’ trial gets closer, the suspicion surrounding his innocent grows and Sophie has to ask herself whether he is the person that she thought he was.
Review: It is rare that I get so hooked in to reading a novel with such subtlety. However, it is the nuance with which Pepper details the effects of Miles’ sexual assault allegation that is one of the things that makes this story so compelling. The subject matter is handled with great sensitivity, resulting in a story that feels highly realistic.
Synopsis: A story about the ultimate in-laws from hell, this book shows what can happen when your life spirals out of your control. Scientist Elliot gets caught up in a whirlwind romance with Gemma. It is not long before they are married and comfortably settled in his house. However, this comfortable life is wrenched from his grasp when Gemma asks if her family can come to stay.
Gemma’s parents and reclusive sister soon become increasingly comfortable in Elliot’s house. As two-weeks become more and more, it grows clear that they have no intention of leaving. If Elliot wants to take back his life, he has to better understand Gemma’s relationship with her parents, and why it is that they are so secretive about their past. However, uncovering these secrets come with a cost, and as the mysterious incidents grow more frequent and severe, he must decide how far he is willing to go to regain control of his life.
Review: This story was an exciting read, the writing style is highly effective and, boy, does it get under your skin. The actions of the in-laws were driving me mad with frustration and I could really sympathise with Elliot at times.
However, whilst the book was gripping and easy to read, there was too much time spent in the middle of the story building up tension but with nothing much actually happening. You knew it was building to something, but it felt like it took too long to get there. Having Elliot’s plans to regain control of his life get repeatedly thwarted started off as engaging but went on for so long with nothing else being learned that it eventually lost some of the impact.
Synopsis: I Am Watching You starts with a woman (Ella) watching two teenage girls on a train as they start chatting to two guys just out of jail. The next day one of the girls has gone missing and Ella is wracked with guilt at not calling one of the girls’ mothers and intervening.
The rest of the story follows the points of view of 4 people – the witness (Ella), the father (Henry), the investigator (Matthew), and the friend (Sarah). After a few chapters it moves forwards one year, the teenager Anna Ballard has still not been found and Ella has started to get threatening letters. As the story moves on it becomes clear that there is more to the story, everyone has secrets of their own and some are lying about what happened the night Anna disappeared.
Review: Every review I write for a mystery/suspense/thriller style book always includes me going on about how much I love this genre, and this love is so important because it leads to high expectations which unfortunately were not met in this case.
This story has good potential. Yes, everyone had secrets, not all of them relevant to Anna’s disappearance, which I enjoy as it keeps you guessing. And it was interesting to hear how Anna’s disappearance affected the different people in her life. However, there was not enough information given to the reader throughout the book to keep them invested. Multiple chapters ended with a vague statement with the intention of generating suspense – something along the lines of ‘she couldn’t tell anyone what she knew’ – but there was very little resolution to these statements which quickly lost their impact.
Frightful visions. An unknown manipulator. A force from beyond reason.
Brandon Chapman arrives home to a horrific scene. His wife, Stephanie, is exhibiting behaviour that he can only describe as that of someone possessed – yet he doesn’t even believe in the supernatural. He soon realises that it was nothing other than a frightful, haunting vision.
After discovering a dark secret about Stephanie, Brandon meets a strange figure with knowledge about his own life that no one could possibly know. As his visions become more frequent and terrifying, he begins to question his sanity.
Brandon must either side with this figure or his wife before his daughter comes to harm.
Alice Hamilton, a shy and quiet university student, meets handsome Niel Curtis whilst on a night out with friends. They very quickly fall for one another, but their happiness is short-lived when Niel ends up in a coma after a traffic accident.
Alice fears he may never wake up again and, unaware of the consequences, strikes a deal with a strange voice. When Niel awakes, his behaviour changes drastically, and Alice – like Brandon – becomes subject to nightmarish, violent visions.
Are Brandon and Alice caught in a never-ending nightmare?
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Review: This book is so fantastically creepy. It manages to be disturbing and uncomfortable and yet so difficult to put down. I raced through it determined to delve deeper into the unsettling world that Bryant has created. I will admit I don’t read too many horror stories but the mix of manipulation, paranoia and the paranormal within this book felt exciting and unique.
Born in the storm that kills his father, Connavar grows up among the mountains of Caer Druagh, where the Rigante tribe dwell in harmony with the land and its gods.
But beyond the border, across the water, an evil force is gathering strength – an unstoppable force that will change the world beyond all recognition.
Haunted by malevolent spirits and hunted by evil men, Connavar sets out on a spectacular mission to defeat this new enemy… But he is a troubled soul, dogged by fate – will he be able to defend his tribe and save his people?
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Review: When I initially started reading this book, I was a bit unsure about it. Because Gemmell has set up a whole world filled with tradition and myth there is a lot of information thrown at you and a lot of characters whose names I kept forgetting!
That being said, once I got into the story any doubts I had melted away. The protagonist Connavar is a man of two halves – on the one side he is a perfect hero, selfless, charming, a fearless and skilled warrior with the capabilities to save his people, but, on the other side he is deeply flawed with a quick temper and thirst for revenge. He feels the pressure of his heroic reputation and desperately does not want to disappoint. I liked the fact that he was not perfect. He faces consequences for his ‘wrong’ actions and is driven by his emotions which is highly relatable.
Synopsis: Lucy moves to an idyllic village in the Cotswolds to escape a failed affair with her boss back in London. She’s hoping to leave her old life behind her and start anew somewhere peaceful, far away from prying eyes. And then her new neighbour Alice moves in. Lucy decides straight away that there is something wrong with Alice, that this woman cannot be trusted. But, when a book club is suggested, all Lucy can do is sit and watch as her friends are manipulated and secrets are exposed. It turns out that things in the village are not as quiet as they seem.
This story alternates between the perspectives of Lucy, Alice, and the other members of the book club – Rebecca, Maggie, and Tom. Using flashbacks, it follows the game of cat-and-mouse between Lucy and Alice, culminating in a show-down as Alice attempts to get her perfectly planned revenge.
Review: This book perfectly captures the uneasy, shivers-up-your-spine, constantly-looking-over-your-shoulder feeling of having your every move watched. It even managed to put me on edge when I know I have no creepy neighbour watching me so have nothing to fear! Alice is the perfect antagonist, so cold and calculating that throughout the book you are poised, waiting for her to finally reveal her true nature, and praying that the characters will realise the type of person she really is before it is too late.
Synopsis:The Power is framed as a research/book proposal, with letters before and after the story between the author Neil, and Naomi. Acting as an in-depth exploration of what would happen if teenage girls gained the power to produce electricity from their fingertips, the book flips societal power structures and gives women the chance to decide how they want to world to run.
The novel is focused on four main characters who represent the responses of different stakeholders within society – crime, religion, politics, and media. There’s a crime boss’ daughter Roxy who has extremely powerful abilities, Allie, an abused foster child who becomes a religious leader, middle-aged US politician Margot whose daughter gives her the power, and Tunde, a Nigerian male who first captures women displaying abilities on camera and travels around reporting on how women’s powers are affecting the world. Each of these characters are followed throughout the different sections of the book which count down ten years from the Day of the Girls to the Cataclysm.
Review: I have found this book extremely difficult to rate and review. The premise – what would happen if women suddenly had the capacity to produce electricity from their fingers – is clever and intriguing and, although producing a thought-provoking exploration of a shift in the balance of power between the sexes, risks overwhelming the story itself. Each section of the book counted down towards the Cataclysm, and yet, the story did not always feel like it was going somewhere. Instead, the story got lost behind an exploration of a concept and jumped around too much towards the end of the book to allow a coherent progression.
This being said, it did not stop me from devouring this book in a matter of days. I was desperate to learn where each character’s story was going and how their power would affect them and their decisions. Although I did find some characters more engaging than others, I enjoyed how they were used to explore different aspects of society and found the similarities between the female characters’ responses to their new-found power interesting.
Pages of Eden 