Book Review: The Birthday Party by Veronica Henry

Published on Monday 29 August 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Orion  (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0752889856

Glitzy, glam and engrossing, The Birthday Party is the story of the Rafferty’s.  Delilah and her hell-raiser husband Raf have lived their marriage in glare of the media spotlight.

Will a new movie opportunity put too many past temptations in Raff’s way?
Then there are their 3 daughters Coco, Violet and Tyger who are only too aware of the media prowling around waiting for their next family ‘drama’ but are equally only human.

Secrets threaten to spill out into the open as Delilah prepares for the birthday party of a lifetime.

A change in style from Henry’s Beach Hut, it’s a lovely light read for when you need to escape the hum drum of the real world and you step into the world of the ‘rich’ and ‘famous’.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy The Birthday Party from Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: The Beach Hut by Veronica Henry

Published on Monday 25 July 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Orion
ISBN-13: 978-1409119951

If you’re looking for a summer read, why not try Veronica Henry’s The Beach Hut?

‘The Shack’ has been in the Milton family for over 50 years and Jane is devastated when she has no option to sell it when her husband dies leaving her with a string of debt.  It’s the last thing – that a place that holds such happy memories – that Jane and the rest of her family want to do.

Set over one sunny summer, the secrets, the dramas and the lives of very different people are thrown into the spotlight in what is supposed to be a relaxing time of year on Everdene Sands.

I loved how Henry manoeuvres between each characters very different story that somehow seem in no way related, but inevitably overlap because of the beach huts.

Perfect reading for the summer.

Rating: ★★★★★


Buy The Beach Hut by Veronica Henry at Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: The Guardian Angel’s Journal by Carole Jess-Cooke

Published on Wednesday 29 June 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Described as the new Audrey Niffenegger, I was intrigued by the title of the book ‘The Guardian Angel’s Journal’.  The ladies who I work with have been raving about this book for about a week when it turned up on my desk.

I’m fascinated by the idea of angels, so you’d think I would be biased in my praise for this book – no?  The idea that someone can return as their own guardian angel seemed like such an alien concept to me, I almost felt affronted for unknown reasons when reading the blurb.  Put simply, I couldn’t get my head around it.

I read the introductory chapter and could not go any further that evening, however, I picked up this book again the following morning and had finished it by mid-afternoon.  I’m so glad I persevered.  The story is about the guardian angel Ruth who returns to watch over her own life again as Margot.  Entrancing, beautifully written, the book compels you to see how Ruth, tasked with protecting and loving her former self, sometimes easily, sometimes not.

It’s always a good sign when you set a book down to ponder the morals of the story. What would you do if you had a chance to influence the way you lived your life?  To change the choices you made? Would you?   This book questions where you should.  One also hopes that it will be made into the film.

★★★★★★

The Guardian Angel’s Journal

Book Review: Love Potions by Christina Jones

Published on Tuesday 28 June 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Newly trained aromatherapist, Sukie Ambrose unwittingly finds out that her cottage garden is full of earth magic that can be used to make her aromatherapy potions, saving her money while offering a superb way of relaxation for her client.  But soon she realises that her improved potions are having a magical loved-up effect on all of those she massages.  And should she use her love potions on her house-mate’s scrummy boyfriend Derry?  Have a read as Sukie battles with the village’s affairs of the heart and her own.

A sweet read, with plenty of laugh out loud moments to warm the heart.  Perfect for cuddling up on the sofa on a Saturday with a cup of tea, chocolate biscuits and Radio 2.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy Love Potions by Christina Jones on Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: AfterLight by Alex Scarrow

Published on Monday 27 June 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Orion
ISBN-13: 978-1409103066

Post apocolyptic view of the fallout from the oil crash – riveting, read in 24 hours and is not for the faint-hearted.

Jenny Sutherland and her children runs a safe community on a decaying offshore oil rigs with a few other hundred people to survive the now dead human world.  As the community look outwards, they learn that not every survivor has the same vision of bettering their future and will quite willing destroy everything the community has worked hard to create.

If you are looking for a happy ending to Scarrow’s Last Light, After Light is not it.  Though the events and story are absorbingly horrifying , you cannot help keep you rooting for the good guys.   But no one is immune to this cruel new world, where the survival of the fittest reigns supreme.  Well-written and paced, this provides a bleak prediction of the world to come if we do not make changes to our lifestyles, society and economic policies without delay.

Rating: ★★★★★★

Buy AfterLight by Alex Scarrow on Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: Heaven Can Wait by Cally Taylor

Published on Monday 06 June 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

While reading a novel about a bride-to-be dying before she gets to walk down the aisle might not be a good idea when I’m about to do just that in a few month, Heaven Can Wait is a heart-warming story of life after death.

When Lucy Brown dies from a freak accident the night before her wedding, she is presented with two options, to go straight to heaven or return to earth in limbo to do a good deed for another human before being able to turn into a ghost and still be with her soulmate and hubby-to-be Dan, on earth.

After discovering limbo is sharing a flat with a train spotter, Brian and grumpy emo-kid Claire, Lucy has double the amount of work cut out for her as she helps her flatmates complete their tasks, as well as her own of finding IT geek Archie a girlfriend within 21 days if she’s going to stay as a ghost with Dan.

A page-turner of a book, with some lovely insights and understandings of what it is that makes us human and the moral of, can we love someone enough to let them go?  I won’t give too much away, but there’s a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, though it did feel like the right ending for this story.

Perfect summer’s day read on the beach or beside the pool.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy Heaven Can Wait from Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: Last Light by Alex Scarrow

Published on Monday 30 May 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Orion
ISBN-13: 978-0752893273

I’ll confess I read this a few years ago, but it’s one of those reads that stay with you for a very long time and it’s story is just as relevant today as it was then.   Why?  Because it scared the hell out of me.

Andy Sutherland, the main character, is trying to get back to the UK, while his wife attempts to get back to their two children from a meeting in Manchester to London after the fall-out begins.  All of the oil reserves have been destroyed and it’s all-out survival and each man for himself as the country goes into meltdown.

How would you react if the prime minister said that Britain has only 1 week’s worth of food and the water is cut off? What would you do?

Scarrow masterfully leads the reader to ponder such questions of how do we survive when the light goes out.

A terrifyingly brilliant book.

Rating: ★★★★★★


Buy Last Light on Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

Published on Monday 28 February 2011 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Picador
ISBN No.: 978-0330519021

From the moment you begin reading this book you want, need even to find out what will happen to Jack and his Mum in the 11ft x 11ft they call Room that has a skylight and locked door.

Jack has just had his 5th birthday, and he only his Mum and him and the things in Room are real, until his Mum tells him that there is a world outside.

The beginning of the novel and hearing Jack describe his world catches the suffocating and oppressive atmosphere of Room.  More than once I had to put the book down because of this.  But Donoghue manages to grab the reader with the suspense of their planned escape and captures beautifully the difficult transition from captivity to ‘freedom’.

At times I wondered how on earth a 5 year-old boy could use the language so intelligently in the novel, but as is pointed out, he’s only had his mother’s adult company who has taught him from a young age and whilst this could have been tricky, doing so from such an innocent point of view is cleverly pulled off.   It’s the snippets of the adult conversations that he interprets that highlights the attitudes and prejudices that they both experience from various characters brought into the story that make it particularly heart-breaking for a young boy who has no comprehension of his past or what his future will bring.

This is one of those books that will stay with you for a very, very long time!

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy Room from Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: Promises, Promises by Erica James

Published on Monday 27 December 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Orion (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-1409101864

A good book is perfect for when you’re poorly and need to stay in bed and this latest novel by Erica James is just the right medicine.

Quite astute in the witticisms of people regardless of which class the characters define themselves as, James uses these nuances of human behaviour for full comedic effect in portraying the strength and weaknesses of her characters.

The story centres around 3 main characters – confused but confident Ella, and downtrodden Maggie and Ethan.  Ella has wasted 7 years trying to win over the man she loves but failed because of his nightmare daughter, Maggie’s married to Mr Blobby who wouldn’t notice if she was dancing naked in front of him.  Ethan is in a loveless marriage whose wife prefers his credit card and he’s being stalked by the nutty neighbour next door who is fantasising about running away with him.

Read along to find out how their lives unravel and entwine as they realise you’ve got to be careful what you wish for.  Maggie’s character provides the best light relief and the interactions between her and mother-in-law can be appreciated by all wives who have ever had the misfortune of having a ‘challenging’ one.

What’s refreshing about the story is the inclusion of the male perspective rather than an all female perspective. This gave it quite a good balance throughout.

Sometimes it felt like the story was dragging a little and I couldn’t help skipping a paragraph here and there. Whilst one could see this as a criticism, I thought it was actually quite a good reflection of the tedium of life felt by each of the characters. Without giving too much of the story, I would have preferred to find out what happened to the nasty characters to see if they get their just deserts.  Then again, it would make for a great sequel :)

A worthwhile read if you’re looking for something to cuddle up on the couch with on a cold winter’s night.

★★★★★

Buy Promises, Promises from Amazon.co.uk »

Book Review: The Art Of French Kissing By Kristin Harmel

Published on Monday 20 December 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Little Black Dress (7 Feb 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0755338283

Another week, another chick-lit read. This time it’s The Art of French Kissing by Kristin Harmel.

While the title of the book may make you think you’ll get a bit of oh-la-la, really it’s a classic romance novel.  One of how a girl loses her fella, her job and friends all in one swoop and magically gets offered a job in the most romantic city of the world – Paris and love and adventure ensue.

Emma is the main character who flies to Paris from Orlando to mend her broken heart, taking a job as PR girl for the spontaneous, fictional, French rockstar Guillaume.  He keeps her on her toes by day and night with the escapades that he keeps getting himself into and she has to keep out of the press.  All the while dating other French guys by order of her best friend she has gone to stay with to learn about the art of French kissing.   Not actual French kissing it becomes apparent, but how to be properly romanced French-style.  But who’s the dishy journalist that keeps seeing through her edited truths? And would it be really unethical for romance to blossom in such boundaries?

While the plot-line runs the course of the usual chick-lit format, the story has just the right amount of comical and touching moments.   The antics of the fictional French rockstar, Guillaume and Emma’s subsequent attempts to rescue him, had me in stitches.  The description of Paris, made me want to hop onto the Eurostar and have my own Parisian adventure.

I think what comes across from this novel, and certainly from the author’s notes at the back, is that when the world comes crashing down, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad thing.  More of an opportunity of out with the old and in with the new.  To focus on being yourself for a period of time, with no external pressures for what the people in your life maybe placing on you.

A lovely read, especially for these dark nights, when one lusts for adventure.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy and read The Art of French Kissing (Little Black Dress) from Amazon »

I Love Fiction Is No Longer Looking For Book Reviewers

Published on Wednesday 15 December 2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

Thank you to all the lovely people who applied to become a book reviewer on I Love Fiction, but we are regrettably not accepting any new applications for the foreseeable future.

We’ll let you know when we open this opportunity again.

Book Review: The Love Verb By Jane Green

Published on Monday 06 December 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0718154530

Callie Perry and her sister Steff both know love. Callie as a mother, wife and successful photographer living in up-state New York., Steff  as a free spirit vegan chef, who has been wandering around life aimlessly.  Then there is there hippy mother Honor Pitman and estranged husdand Walter, who love and care for their two daughters.

The first part of this novel sucks you into the love, lives and everyday trials that the two sisters and their mother go about in day-to-day life. This in itself would justifiably warrant a book in its own right, with tales of love, tales of family feuds and such like.  But it is the event that is forced open this strong family and that they must confront and join together in love, makes this story outstanding.

The characters are charming and likeable, the storyline compassionate and runs at a smooth pace.  A lovely theme running throughout the story is how the events occur around food, with a mouth-watering recipes provided at the end of each chapter.  I was disappoint that I didn’t have time to write them down as I had to return it to the library as it was on short loan, so get your notebook and a pen ready for when you settle down with your copy.

If you love Jane Green’s other books, I would seriously recommend that you read The Love Verb.  But be warned, without wanting to give too much away, make sure you’ve got a box of Kleenex handy.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy The Love Verb by Jane Green from Amazon »

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