Reading, Reading, Reading

Although I didn’t manage to do much writing on holiday, I did do a fair bit of reading. My Kindle came into its element and I read books which I had had stored on there for a while.

Before I review them though, I’ve still got some books I read earlier to tell you about. Hope I’m not boring you! The first one is:

The Secret Shopper Affair

I love this author and this series so when I found this book in the library, I couldn’t resist taking it home with me. As ever Kate kept my fingers turning page after page. I’ve enjoyed travelling with the lives of the three main characters, but I think that perhaps they have gone as far as they can go. I’d be happy for Kate to prove me wrong though

A Room Swept White - Sophie Hannah

I decided to take a small step away from my usual preferred reading genre and try something slightly more edgy. This book still has women at its centre though as it is the story of three women who have lost children through Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and then have been convicted of murder and later acquitted.

It’s hard to think of anything worse than losing your baby, or in this case babies, but then to be imprisoned for their murder, well, it just makes me shudder.

This is the story of how these women try and deal with their lives post acquittal but it is also a thriller which kept the pages turning. In some places I found the plot a little contrived, but I’ll certainly be looking out for more of her books

What Alice Forgot

This is the story of Alice who has an accident in the gym and loses her memory of the last ten years of her life. When she wakes up she thinks she is completely in love with her husband and is pregnant with her first child. In reality, she is 39, a “supermum” of three and is going through an acrimonious separation from her husband. As Alice tries to reconcile the person she has turned into with the person she remembers, we find out piece by piece how her life has become so complicated. This is partly revealed through dairy entries by her sister, who has her own traumas as repeated attempts at IVF fail. Can Alice reconcile her 39 year of self with the person as remembers and will she be able to fix her marriage? I’m not telling. It’s up to you to find out for yourself but I really enjoyed this book.

And finally,

A Gathering Storm

I enjoyed the first book I read by this author, reviewed here and particularly loved the atmosphere and the sense of place she created, as well as liking her characters. But I found some of the plot twists a bit too contrived.

This, however, cannot be a complaint of A Gathering Storm. Like A Place of Secrets, this book was also set in the present and the past, this time during World War II. It was a bit more linear than the previous book and the part set in the past was particularly engaging. I didn’t always feel comfortable with what happened in the past, read it to find out, but it certainly presented parts of the war I have never encountered before. 　

This author is definitely on my To Read More Of list.

 

And that's it for now, more reviews later.  Have a good week eveyone.

Linda