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Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone | ARC Review
Mirrorland…first that cover told me about all the blows it would deliver. It’s dark, it’s intimidating and the abyss you’re staring at? Yeah, it’s going to pull you all the way under. Not going to lie, I always wished I had a sister, but a twin sister? Shouldn’t that just come with a health warning, plain and simple? Your sense of identity is shrouded around being part of a pair. Mothers of twins the world over tend to dress them the same, do their hair the same and treat them the same. How to you break free when your treated as half of a whole? The first chapter of Mirrorland…
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All About Us by Tom Ellen | Review
All About Us is the kind of story that you would want to read on a rainy day, the raindrops dropping onto a tin roof, hypnotising you and carrying you away into the story. It’s not typically a genre that I often read but you know what people say about change. Tom Ellen has created a story that comes straight from the heart – It’s as addictive as chocolate. I want to shout out loud about how good this magical tale really is. He has that perfect formula for making a novel stand out in an oversaturated market and makes it more than memorable. We make decisions when we are…
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The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell | Review
The House We Grew Up In. A perfect starting bullet for discussion. Do you remember yours? Was it a happy home, full of laughter and fond memories? Lisa Jewell introduces us to the concept that looks can be deceiving. Everything can appear to be magnificent and charming on the outside but behind closed doors secrets can harbour and fester. Even our memories can appear hazy, are they to be trusted? An atmosphere seeped in darkness, tragedy that alters the course for everyone and a compulsion that could kill. Jewell makes us understand frustrations, how hoarding is as much an addiction as alcoholism and just how it spirals out of control. …
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Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano|Review
Dear Edward…Prepare for a cry fest! It combines everything I love in Contemporary novels, a soul-destroying plot, tug at your heart strings characters and a narrative that has me hugging my loved ones for dear life! It’s not the first time that I’ve thought of myself as a masochist. A family relocating. Multiple lives forever intertwined through disaster. Loneliness. A boy left broken. Element of a plot that in any other dimension would make for a truly devastating effect. Only Ann Napolitano could take these effects and manage to align the stars. To bring a sense of ease and rightness by the final page. The originality tears at you. You…
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Review| The House On The Lake by Nuala Ellwood
The House On The Lake. The synopsis, the atmosphere, the struggle. It held such incredible promise. A woman, Lisa is on the run from her husband, Mark. A woman and her three-year-old son, Joe. An impossible situation that finally breaks the woman – it gives her the edge and the courage to leave. She essentially kidnaps her son and goes on the run, a plan loosely concocted. She must make it to her friends Yorkshire cottage. A cottage on the lake. Rowan Isle House. A story told in dual timeframes. The plan didn’t account for how dilapidated the house would be. It’s no place for a frightened woman…no place for…
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Review: The Fallout by Rebecca Thornton
What would you do if your five-year-old son fell and got injured on your watch. Your best friend tells you they checked on him before the accident happens. He was safe and happy. You would trust that, wouldn’t you? The Fallout examines the chain of events this accident triggers; they are catastrophic, and no one’s lives will ever be the same again. Friendships should be filled with trust and compassion to what ends will the threads that hold them together snap. The Fallout examines the confines and limits of friendships and the parenting circles of school age children. The two-faced sides of mothers that spend all their time professing kindness…