The Girls by Lisa Jewell

The Girls by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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?



A very intriguing blurb on the back attracted me to this book. A communal garden square, friendly neighbours where children run free and a girl found in one of the dark corners of the gardens one Midsummer night. What happened to her? Who is responsible?


Beautifully written this is essentially a family drama/psychological thriller - good well developed characters, family secrets and lies, jealousy, love, hate and all these elements pulling the residents of this community together around a beautiful communal garden in a leafy part of London. There is a sense of 'country' about this garden, it feels 'safe' and children from the houses and flats around the garden all use it to socialise and let their children play.


When a fire destroys the family home, Clare and her two children Pip and Grace move into a flat overlooking this beautiful community garden where they make friends with the 'gang' of other adolescents and Clare makes friends with some of the parents. It's not long before we learn that some 30 years before a young girl called Phoebe died in the garden. Pip the youngest daughter makes friends with an old lady she sees in the garden who has a giant rabbit on a lead, the old lady tells Pip a lot about the gardens and about the unfortunate Phoebe. Pip spends most of her time writing to her absent father and we get a good sense of her feelings and fears from her letters. Grace her elder sister is everything an adolescent child would be, rebellious, selfish, sometimes very hurtful in her dealings with Pip and of course secretive.


Well developed secondary characters who really gave this story several dimensions, very intriguing backgrounds and family skeletons in cupboards help to add to the mystery and appeal of this novel. Lisa Jewell manages to create characters who on the surface of things appear well adjusted and normal but dig a little deeper and cracks begin to appear in their lives and the past becomes entwined with the present and what happens on that Midsummer night in the gardens begins to affect all the residents one way or another.


This is not a heart racing thriller but the pace is good and although you might think you know the answers Lisa manages just to throw in enough 'red herrings' to put you off the scent until the end.


Good read and would recommend - a well deserved 4 stars

The Secrets of Happiness by Lucy Diamond

The Secrets of Happiness by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The best things in life . . . can be just around the corner

Rachel and Becca aren't real sisters, or so they say. They are stepsisters, living far apart, with little in common. Rachel is the successful one: happily married with three children and a big house, plus an impressive career. Artistic Becca, meanwhile, lurches from one dead-end job to another, shares a titchy flat, and has given up on love.

The two of them have lost touch, but when Rachel doesn't come home one night, Becca is called in to help.
Once there, she quickly realizes that her stepsister's life is not so perfect after all: Rachel's handsome husband
has moved out, her children are rebelling, and her glamorous career has taken a nosedive. Worst of all,
nobody seems to have a clue where she might be.

As Becca begins to untangle Rachel's secrets, she is forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about
her own life, and the future seems uncertain.

But sometimes happiness can be found in the most unexpected places . .



For the beginning of the half term I was at a lost of what to read. This was sent to me a while ago and I hadn't got round to it, mainly because it seemed intimidating in size and I knew I wanted to be able to really devote some time to it. I decided to settle down with it and I am so glad I did.

I have previously read short stories by Lucy Diamond and have really enjoyed them, so I was hoping I would enjoy this just as much and I did.

Rachel and Becca are step sisters, they have never been the closest and Becca has not heard from Rachel in a long time. So when Becca is called one night from a 'friend' of Rachel's stating she has the children and Rachel has gone AWOL Becca jumps in t help out, hoping that she can perhaps rekindle her friendship with her sister along the way.

When Becca steps into Rachel's shoes she starts to discover that her sisters life isn't as perfect as it seems and she begins to wonder exactly where Rachel is. This is a completely different life to Becca's and she struggles to slip into Rachel initially, after a while she begins to realise she is enjoying the country lifestyle and it gets he questioning her own life.

This is a family drama book, where both sisters go on a journey to really find out who they are, the characters are well developed and even secondary characters have great story lines and are likable. I couldn't really say who my favourite character was in this book as they all have their own qualities that I enjoyed reading about.

The story was a little predictable, however I didn't mind this as I was rooting for a happy ending for all involved. Although the book is a monster - over 450 pages, it didn't seem like that to read. I managed to finish this in three sittings, it also didn't seem too long, just the right amount. It is a heartwarming tale that was an easy read. I enjoyed the element of mystery in the story along with the romance and 'finding yourself' aspect. I also felt it encourages you to look at your own life and if your stuck in a rut, remember the grass is not always greener...

I would recommend this as a great read for a holiday, or when you have time to really invest in the book. I also will be reading more novels by Lucy Diamond in the future.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Erica's Elephant blog tour, review and guest post

Blurb:

When Erica Perkins wakes up on the morning of her tenth birthday, the last thing she expects is to find a very confused elephant sitting on her doorstep. So begins an unlikely friendship. But can a small girl and a rather large elephant learn to live together in a tiny terraced house? And when the dastardly owner of the local zoo plots to steal the elephant, will Erica be able to outsmart him?

Information about the Book

Title: Erica’s Elephant

Author: Sylvia Bishop

Release Date: 2nd June 2016

Age Range: 6-8 year olds

Genre: MG Magical Realism

Publisher: Scholastic

Format: Hardback

Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29543381-erica-s-elephant

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ericas-Elephant-Sylvia-Bishop/dp/1407159682/

Author Information

Sylvia Bishop is 23 years old and has recently graduated from Oxford. She is one half of the brilliant improvised comedy duo Peablossom Cabaret (www.peablossomcabaret.com). ERICA’S ELEPHANT is her first book, and she intends it to be the first of many quirky stories for young readers.

Website: http://sylviabishopbooks.weebly.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sylviabishop

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sylvialining/



Review:

Erica's Elephant by Sylvia Bishop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I was contacted in regarding reading and reviewing Erica's Elephant I jumped at the chance, after reading the blurb I knew this would be something my class would love and I would also enjoy reading to them. I wasn't wrong.

This is about a 10 year old girl called Erica, who one morning wakes up to find an elephant on her doorstep. Erica decides to take the elephant in and look after it, she has been living on her own since her Uncle went travelling around the world and left her some money. It's not long until Erica realises that keeping an elephant is going to be costly and she only has around £30 left and there is no sign her Uncle will be returning. Through a little thought Erica comes up with the perfect solution to make them some money and keep the elephant with her. That is until someone decides they want the elephant for themselves and seems they will stop at nothing until they get it.

The book has the perfect amount of challenging vocabulary in it for the children who it is aimed at could read independently. As a teacher sharing it with a class it provided some great discussion, the children really loved this book, whenever we had a spare 10 minutes the asked if we could continue reading Erica's Elephant. The illustrations are lovely too and the chapters are relatively short, which is brilliant for beginning readers.

I thought this was a great debut novel for children and the reaction from the children I read it to was a picture, they all really enjoyed it, it left them talking about it for days after. I would be keen to read other books to the children by Sylvia Bishop and I hope there are more to come.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.



Guest Post:

Bookish Inspirations



It is difficult to know where to start listing the books that have inspired me. They have all tangled up into one big world-of-books jungle in my head, and when I go exploring it, I lose track of which bits came from where. But with apologies to the hundreds of omissions, here are a few that stand out as being especially relevant to the stories I like to write:



(1) Diana Wynne Jones: Literally everything she ever wrote. This inspired me to read voraciously as a child – the kind of reading where you stay in bed all morning and consume the whole book in one go, or read it in the car even though you’re feeling really sick, or read it on school trips even though your friends get miffed. That kind of reading. I think she fills a really important cross-over territory, where books still need to be manageably short, but exciting.



(2) Frances Hodgson-Burnett - A Little Princess: I would put the Secret Garden here too, but I didn’t read it until adult life, so I think it was less formative. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s books suggest that the world is best understood as hopeful and earnest and in need of kindness, which gives her story-telling this sort-of glowing warmth. I would above all love to write things that capture that spirit.



(3) My dad’s stories. Is this cheating? They aren’t written down. But they were wonderfully witty, and taught me early on that story-telling is something we all do, and not just the sacred preserve of mysterious Authors.



(4) E B White - Charlotte’s Webb: I remember gobbling that up in one day in a caravan one summer. It’s the first book I remember reading that challenged me with an ambivalent ending, and suggested that the world wasn’t just divided into happy and sad.



(5) A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh: the most perfect and wonderful humour ever, ever, ever. I don’t have a favourite bit, but I was recently admiring this passage, so I’ll end by quoting at length. Because why not end with Winnie-the-Pooh, if you can?



They had come to a stream which twisted and tumbled between high rocky banks, and Christopher Robin saw at once how dangerous it was.



"It's just the place," he explained, "for an Ambush."



"What sort of bush?" whispered Pooh to Piglet. "A gorse-bush?"



"My dear Pooh," said Owl in his superior way, "don't you know what an Ambush is?"



"Owl," said Piglet, looking round at him severely, "Pooh's whisper was a perfectly private whisper, and there was no need----"



"An Ambush," said Owl, "is a sort of Surprise."



"So is a gorse-bush sometimes," said Pooh.



"An Ambush, as I was about to explain to Pooh," said Piglet, "is a sort of Surprise."



"If people jump out at you suddenly, that's an Ambush," said Owl.



"It's an Ambush, Pooh, when people jump at you suddenly," explained Piglet.



Pooh, who now knew what an Ambush was, said that a gorse-bush had sprung at him suddenly one day when he fell off a tree, and he had taken six days to get all the prickles out of himself.



"We are not talking about gorse-bushes," said Owl a little crossly.





"I am," said Pooh.

Time after Time extract

Time After Time

Hayley Cooper, a powerful but now struggling lawyer, fantasizes about what her life would

be like if only if she’d made different choices. It’s understandable; the past two years have

been hell. She barely sees her kids, her boss is trying to sabotage her, and her marriage is

falling apart.

Burnt out, Hayley goes to sleep wishing for a different life. When she wakes up married to

her first boyfriend, one she has not seen in over twenty years, she realizes there might be

some truth in the saying “be careful what you wish for”.

Over a single weekend, like Ebenezer Scrooge, Hayley gets to see her life on other side of the white picket fence – not

just with her first ex, but with each of her past loves.

But is the grass always greener, and

will she ever want to go home?

OUR SONG -Ashley Bodette Blog Blitz

BLURB:

Becca: I broke up with Trip four months ago. But with the exception of my parents, I haven’t told anyone why. Not my friends, not my little sister, not even Asher. 

Asher: I’ve been missing my best friend every day for the last nine months. Even though Becca broke up with Trip months ago, she’s still been distant, even when we’re in the same room. 

Trip: She thinks she can break up with me and then go on a “family” vacation with him? I’m going to prove to both of them that she never should have left me.








About the Author

Ashley Bodette is a soon-to-be MA publishing graduate from Kingston University London. She started her venture into the book world as a book blogger, never imagining that one day she'd write a book. Now, you couldn't stop her from writing if you tried.



Along with writing and providing editing and other author services, you also might find Ashley crocheting, watching British television shows on Netflix, playing piano, singing around the house, or, of course, curled up with a good book.

Polly and the Puffin: 02 The Stormy Day by Jenny Colgan

Polly and the Puffin: 02 The Stormy Day by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Polly and Neil are back in the second gorgeous children's book from Sunday Times bestselling novelist Jenny Colgan. Perfect for reading aloud and including fun activities based on the story.

The boat masts jangled louder and louder. Above their heads, black clouds gathered. Polly shivered, and then the rain started to fall: plop, plop, plop.

Polly is waiting for something important to happen. But waiting is hard. It's even harder when it's raining and you can't go outside...

Can Polly find enough to do to keep busy ALL day? And what will happen when her puffin friend, Neil, decides to fly off into the storm?

When this copy arrived for me to share with my class I couldn't wait, they had previously loved 'Polly and the Puffin' and I knew this would be another they would enjoy.

Polly and Neil's adventure starts on a stormy day, Polly is waiting for her dad to come home, as he is out at sea and Neil disappears into the big black cloud.

I loved this story as well as the children, it is easy to read and the illustrations, although only a few colours come across as really powerful. I enjoyed reading about the village that Polly and Neil live in, this is something new, as before we only got snap shots of the dock.

The children were completely quiet during the story and they really took it in. They particularly liked the activities at the back of the book, which I think is unique and would love to see more of in other books. They all said they would recommend it to others and they enjoyed continuing on with the series. They have asked me if there will be another as they loved it so much, I really hope there will be!

What I like about the book as much as the children is that it is quite a nice book to pick up if you are just becoming an independent reader, the language isn't too challenging, however does offer a few words which could be used as discussion. It is also not an intimidating book for a child to read if they are not too confident.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

The Madam - Jaime Raven

Three years and eleven months. That's how long Lizzie Wells has been banged up inside Holloway prison, serving time for a crime she didn’t commit.

Six months. That's how long it’s taken Lizzie to fall in love with her fellow inmate, Scar.

Now they are both finally free and, together, they are about to embark on a vengeful search to find those who framed Lizzie . . . and to make them pay.

THE BUSINESS MAN. THE COPPER. THE MADAM.

I have been lucky enough to be able to bring you an audio clip from the book to help promote the release. You can hear this below. 

https://soundcloud.com/harperaudio/the-madam-by-jaime-raven

Don't forget to stop by on the other tour days: