The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
'Each summer, Jenn and her husband Greg return to Deia, on Mallorca's dramatic west coast. This year the arrival of Emma, Jenn's stepdaughter, and her new boyfriend Nathan threatens to upset their equilibrium. Beautiful and reckless, Nathan stirs something unexpected in Jenn. As she is increasingly seduced by Nathan's youth and the promise of passion, the line between desire and obsession begins to blur. What follows is a highly-charged liaison that puts lives and relationships in jeopardy. For Jenn, after this summer, nothing can ever be the same.'
The Lemon Grove has been every where this year, since it was first released in hardback it has been doing the rounds on social media and been heavily pushed in newspapers, magazines and in book stores. So when I had the opportunity to read and review this I jumped at the chance.
Summer looks like it may have finally arrived in the U.K and that was perfect for me to take the opportunity to read this now.
Jenn and Greg visit Mallorca every year, they have been bringing their daughter Emma too, this year Jenn and Greg head out to the island early leaving Emma to arrive a week later, she brings her other half; her first proper boyfriend 17 year old Nathan with her.
When Nathan arrives he disrupts the dynamics of the family, Jenn is struggling to terms with coming to her age and is looking for escapism and a way to hold on and connect with her youth.
This story is about relationships in the family, mother and daughter, husband and wife. It is about secrets and betrayal and identifies how quickly these can escalate into something more. It also covers shifting in relationships of parents and their children.
Something I do have an issue with in this book is the 'act' of lust with Nathan, I feel this is a little unbelievable and that this seems in the book to be acceptable. Personally I don't know why Jenn would think her actions were acceptable and moral.
The way in which the story has been written has made it very hard to like and connect with any of the characters. I also found it very intense and at times graphic. I am not sure if this was the authors intentions to make you feel uncomfortable but if it was, she has achieved this with me.
The setting of the story was beautiful, having been to Mallorca myself I could picture the island well and enjoyed reading about it. This although a 'holiday' read, is not light and fluffy. It has dark themes and the subject matter is serious, if you are looking for something fun for the beach this is not for you.
The story itself is very short, I read in just two sittings, it is compulsive and I did want to get to the end to find out what was going to happen. This is where I felt a little let down by the book. I was expecting something major to happen and I feel I didn't get that, this left me feeling flat, and personally wanting a different ending.
I would recommend this as a different type of holiday read, it will keep you engaged and you will race to end.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
'It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce - back home, each wih different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.'
This was the first Maggie O’Farrell book I have read and when I had the opportunity to review the book I jumped at the chance. The blurb really drew me in, I thought it would be a wonderful mystery to unravel and I couldn’t wait to get started with it.
From not reading a Maggie O’Farrell book before I was unsure what to have expected, I had heard rave reviews about her other books and was hoping I would find a connection with this book.
This story is about Gretta, it is set in London during the heatwave of 1976, she is an Irish woman, who has three grown up children who have all fled the nest, living in various places of the world. She is married to Robert, he regularly goes out for the morning paper, however one morning he never comes back. Gretta begins to worry as time goes on and when she discovers he has taken money and his passport she decides to call her children, as she realises he may not be returning home for some time.
Gretta’s three children are very different. Michael Francis is the eldest, he is a teacher and is married to Claire, they have two children but their marriage is going through a rough patch. Monica is the middle child. She has been married twice and is currently married to antiques dealer Peter, they live in the county, however Monica is a city girl and is not entirely happy with this as she misses the hustle and bustle of London. Peter her husband had also been married before and has children from the marriage, these children hate Monica with a passion and constantly try to make life difficult for her. Monica also despised Peter at times as he will never stand up for her and take her side when it comes to his children. Finally there is Aoife, she is the youngest and considered the ‘problem child’ she is seemed as a disappointment to the rest of the family and a worry. She lives in New York after a disagreement with Monica caused her to flee across the Atlantic, Aoife has struggled for all her life as she has dyslexia and keeps it as an embarrassing secret and finds it hard to commit to anyone because of it.
All three children return home to Gretta to work of the disappearance of their father, however while they are all under the same roof family secrets begin to come out, and we learn more about the past of the family and their relationships.
I did enjoy reading this book, however I felt I had to concentrate 100% while reading as it was very easy to get confused as it jumps from past memories to the present with them all in the house. I felt that although it was interesting reading and finding out about the siblings’ relationships that the actual story line of the missing father was almost forgotten about and this I felt was a shame. This was the main reason I wanted to read this book and the further and further I got into it, I realised it was very different from what I had expected and although the story was good, I felt a little let down by the blurb which to me suggested it was going to be more about finding the missing father and less about the families relationships.
The story was written very well and the characterisation was excellent, the author also had you changing your emotions and about how you feel about each member of the family throughout the book, which I felt was a real skill to do.
I would like to thank #weekendreads for sending me this book, my review has not been effected in anyway because of this.
