The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Minnie and her sister Clara, spinsters both, live in a dilapidated country house in the middle of a housing estate, built when their father sold off the family's land. Now in their seventies, their days follow a well-established routine: long gone are the garden parties, the tennis lessons and their suffocatingly strict mother. Gone, too, is any mention of what happened when Minnie was sixteen, and the secret the family buried in the grounds of their estate.

Directly opposite them lives Max, an 11-year-old whose life with his mum has changed beyond recognition since her new boyfriend arrived. Cast aside, he takes solace in Minnie's careful routine, observed through his bedroom window.

Over the course of the summer, both begin to tell their stories: Max through a Dictaphone, Minnie through a diary. As their tales intertwine, ghosts are put to rest and challenges faced, in a story that is as dark as it is uplifting.


An unlikely friendship develops between Millie a 70 year old woman and Max an 11 year old boy one summer that helps each one to come to terms with events that have shaped their lives. Max is given a dictaphone for his birthday and starts to record everything that happens to him that summer. It coincides with his mother is asked out on a date bu the boiler man and from that point he becomes something of a fixture in Max's life and not one he is happy about. No longer the focus of his mothers' attention and having to put up with this new man in her life who is less than kind to him he finds solace in sharing his thoughts and feelings on his dictaphone and eventually the old lady across the street.

Millie lives in the house opposite on the same estate and when she was a young girl her family once owned all the land the estate is built on. Living with her sister Clara all she has is her memories and routines hardly ever venturing outside. Millie notices Max from her window recording his days events and she decides to do the same in a diary. The journey for her is both cathartic and painful and eventually when Max and Millie meet they share confidences which make them both stronger.

It is sometimes a difficult read in that it has incredibly sad and poignant events but a feel good factor in their friendship keeps the book moving along nicely. It was nice to see how the author managed to make a connection with the young and old to develop a friendship that developed into a strong bond between the two.

Not my usual read but it was well thought out and executed and although a bit sad it was nicely done if the ending was a bit flat. I would give this a 4 star rating for its' subject matter and managing to bridge the gap between generations so well.

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

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautiful.
Rich.
Mysterious.

The Roanoke girls seem to have it all. But there's a dark truth about them which is never spoken. Every girl either runs away, or dies.

Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents' estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing - and Lane has no choice but to go back.

She is a Roanoke girl.

Is she strong enough to escape a second time?

When Lane Roanoak's mother commits suicide Lane finds herself back in Kansas where her mother came from and in the Roanoake family home to live with her grandparents. At 15 Lane has no other relatives to care for her and being too young to take care of herself she has little choice. She has never met her grandparents or any of her relatives as her mother left the family home when she was 16 and pregnant with Lane. Over the course of the summer she becomes very close to her cousin Allegra who also lives in Roanoake and little by little she pieces together her family's past and uncovers secrets she is both ashamed and fascinated by.

We learn early on in the novel what is going on and although this should have made the novel lack luster it actually seemed to add to it. The twist at the end was not entirely unpredictable but again this did not detract from what ended up as a really good read.

The characters were well thought out and shaped not just their personalities but also the theme of the novel. Vulnerable and innocent children manipulated and 'groomed' into the playthings they became, those that ran could not outrun their past and those that stayed died young. Lane's mother ran but also died young as for her she could not put the past behind her and could not live with the shame and guilt.

The author did not try and steer the reader into one direction in terms of opinions or try and manipulate with a 'tell' philosophy but allowed the reader to come to their own conclusions as the story unfolds. All the characters in this novel had flaws or were scarred by things that happened in their lives and strong parallels are shown on how some were able to use these to shape their lives for the better and those who were too weak or controlled to be able to escape their fate. When Lane finds out the awful secrets she runs away from Roanoak after that first summer vowing never to return but she does return 11 years later when she finds out her cousin Allegra is missing and she stays until she discovers what happened to her.

I don't ever give spoilers so you will have to read it yourself suffice it to say that it covers some disturbing and real issues written mainly from Lane's point of view but also those of all the Roanoke girls which gave it a more rounded and complete view of the family over the course of many years.

Because of this clever writing the reader could have sympathy with the characters and understand in a way why they felt they couldn't unmask what was going on in this dysfunctional family unit. It laid bare the effects of neglect, the need to be loved,the guilt and shame of the abused and the consequences for those bound up in the secrets and lies.

Very clever writing and although I felt the ending was a bit predictable it did not detract from what was otherwise a well crafted novel. A well deserved 4 stars for this one.

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

The Late Scholar - Jill Paton Walsh - Dorothy Sayers

The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A new murder mystery featuring Lord Peter Wimsey - now a Duke - and his wife Harriet Vane, set in an Oxford college in the 1950s.
Peter Wimsey is pleased to discover that along with a Dukedom he has inherited the duties of 'visitor' at an Oxford college.When the fellows appeal to him to resolve a dispute, he and Harriet set off happily to spend some time in Oxford.
But the dispute turns out to be embittered. The voting is evenly balanced between two passionate parties - evenly balanced, that is, until several of the fellows unexpectedly die.The Warden has a casting vote, but the Warden has disappeared.
And the causes of death of the deceased fellows bear an uncanny resemblance to the murder methods in Peter's past cases - methods that Harriet has used in her published novels .


I had never read any of the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L Sayers and therefore had no pre-conceptions about what another writer would achieve by resurrecting these characters. I felt I was at a disadvantage by not having read any of these novels since Jill Paton Walsh made references to a previous case solved by this detective that I could not relate to.

The book had good descriptive passages to acquaint the novice with both Oxford and the University but I felt that the language was too chewy and the Latin references were lost on me since I have not studied Latin and this is such a huge part of the Oxford University clique.

Essentially this was about the Duke of Denver (Peter Wimsey) discovering he is a Visitor to Oxford and he is asked to settle a dispute among the fellows on whether to go ahead with the sale of a medieval book to get funds to buy some land next door which has come up for sale. When the fellows are asked to vote the death of one of the fellows brings the vote to a tie and as the Duke of Denver delves deeper into the sale of the land and the medieval book so there are more deaths along the way and he and his wife and butler work together to unravel the mystery and uncover the murderer/s.

I found the story although pacy enough in terms of building tension and atmosphere was just too laborious to hold my interest beyond halfway through the book. I could not summon enough enthusiasm to continue to the end of the book, it was just not my type of novel in terms of language and therefore not for me. Having said that, it was well written and if the language had been lighter and more made of connecting the relationships of the characters I may well have stayed with it to the end. I just found the characters lacked the sparkle that could have kept me reading - as it was I really didn't care enough to read on to the end. DNF

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

The 100 - Kass Morgan

The 100 by Kass Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Hunger Games meets Lost in this spectacular new series. Now a major TV series on E4.

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries - until now.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents - considered expendable by society - are being sent on a dangerous mission: to re-colonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves - but will she ever forgive him Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

I have been watching The 100 T.V series and when I found out that this was based on a book, I couldn’t wait to read it. Science fiction/fantasy is not my type of thing and I always struggle to read books of this genre. The 100 was different though, I actually really enjoyed it.

When I began reading it, I expected it to be very similar to the T.V show, the plot is similar but not the same, some of the characters are different and some have less importance in the book as the show.

The 100 is about 100 teenagers sent down to abandoned Earth from a colony in outer space, to see if it is safe enough for everyone to return. It is told from the perspective of 4 main characters; Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass, all these characters have different reasons for being sent to Earth. Throughout the book, we get flashbacks to before the characters arrived on Earth and for the reason they have ended up there. This was excellently done; sometimes I find books that have flash backs very confusing and you do not know whether they are in the past or the present. This however was written in a way that was easy for you to recongnise the flashback and the writing was also written in a different font, this made it very clear.

I thought that this book was very faced paced, which I enjoyed as it kept my interest and I was able to get through the book very quickly. I liked the balance in the book, for me as not a sci fi fan, I enjoyed other elements of the book, the love interest and the relationships developed through the book. I also really enjoyed reading about the past, on the spaceship and the different stories there.

I would have liked to have found out what had happened to the human race on Earth before it was abandoned, as we don’t know anything about this. This is just a personal opinion though and the book doesn’t feel like it’s not complete without not knowing. I thought the middle of the story felt a little flat from the beginning and building up to the end, and wow what an ending, which was unpredictable. This has you hooked into wanting to read the next book! If you love the T.V show, you will enjoy this; just don’t expect it to be identical.

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

The Travelling Tea Shop - Belinda Jones

The Travelling Tea Shop by Belinda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'A delectable tale of love, friendship and cake...

Laurie loves a challenge. Especially if it involves tea-time and travel. So when British baking treasure Pamela Lambert-Leigh needs a guide on a research trip for her new cookbook, she jumps at the chance.

The brief:

Laurie and Pamela Ð along with Pamela's sassy mother and stroppy daughter Ð will board a vintage London bus for a deliciously unusual tour of the USA's East Coast, cruising from New York to Vermont.

Their mission:

To trade recipes for home-grown classics like Victoria Sponge and Battenburg for American favourites like Red Velvet Cake and Whoopie Pie.

All the women have their secrets and heartaches to heal. As well cupcakes galore, there's also the chance for romance...

But will making Whoopie lead to love?'


I could not wait to read this book, it sounded right up my street. I love travel and I love recipes and cakes so this had to be the book for me.

Well known baker Pamela Lambert – Leigh wants to bring out a new cook book based on cakes from the US. She wants to visit different states, identify the traditional cakes from these areas, research them and create a book based on them, using traditional English recipes. She hires Laurie (I found out after reading the book that she had previously appeared in Winter Wonderland.) to plan her trip for her and accompany her along the way.

They are set for their trip and coming along for the trip is Pamela’s mum Gracie and her daughter Ravenna. Although they are primarily the secondary characters in the story, I really enjoyed reading about Ravenna and she became my favourite character, you could see a stroppy teen develop through the story and I enjoyed reading how her relationship developed with Laurie, like I wrote, a stroppy teen – she is actually twenty but behaves in a way a lot younger. Gracie is a wonderful grandma and she holds no prisoners when it comes to her granddaughter Ravenna, and tells her like it is.

I loved the idea of this story and enjoyed reading about Pamela trading recipes with other chefs from around the states of America. One thing that I think could have made the book better would be to have included these recipes that Pamela had received. I would have loved to try to recreate the perfect Red Velvet cake in my own kitchen.

The story did take some turns in the book, which I was not expecting. This made it a more enjoyable read for me. I enjoyed reading the romances that developed through the story. The way Jones’ writes is really descriptive and this allowed to me to feel I was with them on the trip as I could easily picture where the characters were and what the setting was like. It is clear that Jones’ spent a long time researching this book before writing it, clearing having an awesome time doing so!

I did enjoy this book; however I found it a little difficult to initially get into it. I feel there were a lot of characters to get to know – some I felt we know a lot better than others. I think that if you have time to spend to get into the book to begin with, it will become a smooth and easy read. For me getting into the story was the main issue I had with the story and it spoilt my enjoyment of it somewhat.

I would recommend anyone to read this who loves stories about travel and cooking oh and course Belinda Jones!

I would like to thank the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.