"A Year and A Day" Isabelle Broom

Three different women.

Three intertwining love stories.

One unforgettable, timeless city.

This will be a good book to buy for friends this Christmas. Romantic, light, readable and ultimately heartwarming, it is a great read to enjoy in a winter's evening tucked up somewhere cosy.

"It all seems pretty simple to me. If two people care about each other, they should be together. It should be easy." 

But can it ever be that simple? In this story we follow three women as they travel to Prague, each emotionally troubled and each wanting to rediscover love and happiness. Broom hides us away in their suitcases as we watch them journey through through these few days of their lives; sharing their fear, risks, friendships, hopes and love.

I have never been to Prague, but Broom's picturesque detail and beautiful description makes it sound like a perfect setting for a novel about love. In this story it is a city which represents warmth, comfort, happiness and hope. Our three female protagonists have all chosen to travel there for different reasons, but ultimately they are seeking answers and resolution. This ancient city with its beautiful architecture, mythical tales, statues and culture, offers the girls a perfect space in which to confront their internal conflicts.

One of our female protagonists, Megan, claims her first love is photography. She has travelled to Prague with Ollie, her best friend, to seek inspiration for her next collection. Her passion for taking photos is an effective metaphor in illustrating how Megan often sees the world - as "a snapshot of a moment, a memory saved forever, the view of the world as she saw it," and indeed Broom is exploring the concept of what we see - or what we don't see- versus what is actually happening.

Megan fights against a gradual realisation of her true feelings for Ollie. But Megan is frightened. To her love is a threat. To her it is imperative not to show Ollie the real her. To her, being in love can only lead to being hurt.

"With her ex, she had always been wary of saying the wrong thing, of upsetting the fragile shelf  upon which their strange little relationship was precariously balanced."

Ollie is a hugely likeable man; kind, funny, supportive and interesting. The couple are very at ease with each other and their relationship is very natural. The reader likes them both and Broom does a good job of writing about their friendship and exploring that transition between friend to lover, or how to accept that being hurt once, won't mean you'll necessarily be hurt again.

Hope is another of our protagonists. She has a daughter, Annette, with whom she has a strained relationship.

"It was far less dramatic to jab a screen with your finger than smash plastic against plastic and hear that satisfying ring of enraged silence, but the result was still the same: she felt as if her heart was breaking into pieces." 

She's on holiday with Charles - he is not her husband, but her "upgrade"! However, Hope's time in Prague is spent agonising over her damaged relationship with her daughter and reflecting on how well she actually knows Charles. Again, this is a woman who has been burned by love before and who needs to reconcile herself with her daughter before she can allow herself some happiness.

Finally comes Sophie, a younger girl who awaits the arrival of her fiancé. There is something a little mysterious about Sophie and a more mythical aura surrounds her as she meets with the other characters in the book. At first she seems very excited about travelling to Prague and seems to relish the opportunity for travel. However as the novel proceeds, the reader begins to worry about Sophie and whether she is narrator to be relied on or not. There's definitely a sense that Sophie is keeping something from us and her storyline injects a bit of intrigue and mystery.

"She'd known Prague wouldn't let her down. She had been silly to ever let the dark shadow of doubt cast it's nasty hunched shoulders across her mind."

Sophie awaits the arrival of Robin, her fiancé and spends a lot of time extolling his virtues. Her story is a slight contrast to the others as both Megan and Hope have a sense of being let down by men and  having been too dependent on them. Both these women want to have some more independence. Both are reluctant to become dependent on men again, whereas Sophie seems incomplete without Robin and almost unable to operate without him. But ultimately, all of them want love.

So will they find what they are looking for in Prague? Will the magic golden cross, pointed out by a guide, which can grant a wish to come true in a year and a day work for them all? Will their wishes come true? Will the magic and myth of Prague bring them the hope and love they so need? Is love easy or is it an impossibility? What effect will this magical, christmassy city have on them?

This is a good read. It's reasonably predictable, but there are a few shots toward the end which add an emotional depth to the storyline and remind us of the complexities of people, love and relationships. Perfect winter romance!

"A Year and A Day" is published be Michael Joseph on 17th November 2016.

My thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

For more recommendations and reviews follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"The Easy Way Out" Steven Amsterdam

Evan is a nurse, a suicide assistant. His job is legal . . . just. He's the one at the hospital who hands out the last drink to those who ask for it. 

Evan's friends don't know what he does during the day. His mother, Viv, doesn't know what he's up to at night. And his supervisor suspects there may be trouble ahead.

As he helps one patient after another die, Evan pushes against legality, his own morality and the best intentions of those closest to him, discovering that his own path will be neither quick nor painless.

He knows what he has to do.

In this powerful novel, award-winning author Steven Amsterdam challenges readers to face the most taboo and heartbreaking of dilemmas. Would you help someone end their life?


"Death is where life gets really interesting."

Set in Australia, in the near future at a time when assisted suicide is legal, Amsterdam tackles a very emotive subject for his novel. I wanted to read this book as I wondered how the author would handle such a taboo and controversial subject in what appeared to be a more light and entertaining narrative voice than perhaps found in other titles which deal with terminal illness and suicide.

This is a brave novel for a brave reader. I think your reaction to this book could very much depend on where you are in life and what personal and emotional issues you may have surrounding the subject of illness and death. Having said that, although it is not a light read, there is a good balance between humour and seriousness. The writing is not oppressive or sentimental. It is not insensitive or offensive either. There is humour, quirkiness, bluntness and honesty which make it a novel hard to define but actually easier to engage with than one might think.

Whatever the reader feels about the subject matter, there is no denying that Amsterdam can write. I found some of his observations and images profound; understated yet very evocative and effective.

"The cancer ran through him like drain cleaner"

"This is the family picture: three hands and wrists woven together, each with a different purpose - the daughter grooming, the father pulling back in terminal retreat, the mother trying to protect them all."

"There we are, six white people fine tuning a death."

The book opens with us watching Evan carry out his job as a suicide assistant. As this is not something that happens legally in the UK, it was an alien experience for me to read about this in such normalised circumstances. I'm not sure whether the fact that it is not a "real life" relatable scenario for me actually made it easier to read as there was a sense of detachment -almost as if I was reading something set in an imagined future. I found the calm normality of the narrative voice effective in discussing what must be some of the most difficult and imaginable moments in someone's life. Evan's matter of fact, practical voice also helped to remove the potential emotional intensity and sensationalism from the scenes. In fact, he is trained to be emotionally detached, and pulled up on it by his boss Nettie several times. As the novel continues and Evan's role begins to invade his personal life as he watches his beloved mother's health deteriorate, it is this awareness that he's been trained to keep a level of detachment from death and terminal illness that creates dilemma, conflict and confusion.

There are several accounts of Evan's 'assists'. One of the most moving comes towards the end of the book with Leo aged ninety and his girlfriend, Myrna, aged eighty six. It is interesting how the characters who are 'attending' the 'assist' behave each time and what they expect from Evan as he tries to remain invisible and unobtrusive despite sharing possibly the most intimate moments of anyone's life. Amsterdam again shows that he can write with great poignancy.

"Two people watching the tide go out."

And then Myrna's repetition of "So simple and so beautiful. So simple," create an overwhelming sense of peace, resolution and calm. This book undoubtedly challenges the reader's perception of 'assisted suicide', whether it will change your mind at all is probably irrelevant. It's just offering a very different perspective and it's also interesting how Evan reflects and responds to his role as the novel continues. Evan's almost throwaway comments often present the reader with something quite thought provoking. For example, his reflection on how different people respond to death is presented with an emotional detachment not usually seen in stories dealing with final moments. Seeing it from a practical viewpoint of someone whose is helping someone to die, offers a different perspective from usual in which to observe characters and their behaviour.

"Will they sail past the news untouched or will it send them off in a new direction?"

Amsterdam injects a level of humour, modernity and contrast with the sub plot of Evan's personal life. His relationship with his mother is quite fascinating and written with a mixture of compassion and wry humour and then Evan's own romantic relationship with two other men as they operate as a "throuple." This really is a very contemporary novel, bursting with contemporary issues and written in a bold contemporary voice.

Towards the end of the book Evan reflects on his career. The metaphor of the rubbish men is very effective.

"a garbage truck notches its way through the middle of the street. The men run to collect the bins on opposite sides, empty them into the munching maw at the back......There may be easier jobs in this world."

This novel is interesting, quirky, shocking, modern and highly original. It took me a while to get to grips with Evan's voice and although I enjoyed his entertaining responses to friends as he tries to hide the reality of his day job, he is a complex character and perhaps a little of an acquired taste.

I am pleased that I read it but I am not completely sure how I would rate it or indeed feel about it. I think I would suggest you make your own mind up. Although thought provoking, emotive and controversial, Amsterdam's voice is also quirky and humorous. There is plenty of dialogue and it is a well paced novel. The relationships between the main characters is also unusual. It is a relatively short novel too, which is possibly necessary really because of the scenarios and dynamics explored within the book.

"The Easy Way Out" by Steven Amsterdam is published on Nov 3rd 2016.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of the novel.

For more recommendations and reviews please follow me onTwitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

Children's Fiction: "Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School"

Here, right in time for Halloween, is a book with three hilarious read-aloud stories from author Tracey Corderoy (Hubble Bubble series) and illustrator Steven Lenton - a perfect treat for any 5-8 year old!

Meet Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam - two brave baker dogs, who solve wacky mysteries too! Halloween at St Spectre's school brings out the cheekiest of ghosts! And who is to blame when the weather goes CRAZY? A power-grabbing red panda maybe? Certainly not the raccoon gang fixing the museum's toilets - they've got dastardly plans of their OWN!

This story is from the successful creators of Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam picture books series. It is their first title for children who want to begin to read more independently and make the leap from picture books to something slightly more substantial. It also works very well as a book that can be read aloud to children as they begin to become more confident about tackling longer and more complex texts.

The orange and black cover and illustrations are appropriately thematic for the season but also fun and add plenty of humour. There are illustrations on each page which ensures the text is broken down into smaller sections and not too overwhelming.

Shifty and Sam are very likeable characters; dogs who bake and solve mysteries at the same time makes for an appealing and winning combination! The first story sees them arriving at St Spectre's Boarding School where they proceed to prepare a delicious banquet of sandwitches, creepy crawly cupcakes and "totally terrifying trifles that bubbled like volcanoes." But within no time at all they are involved in the hunt for the "lightning strike" ghost. The action is fast paced and sprinkled with so many amusing phrases like their motto "All for bun and bun for all!" to their weapons "whisk-a-web". The alliteration and bubbling adjectives make the story entertaining. The writing is full of energy; the words and illustrations seem to almost leap from the page.

The second story, "The Wacky Weather Week" involves the devilish Red Rocket who uses his remote control to change the weather and create havoc. There's a great scene when Shifty and Sam turn baguettes into skis! The imaginative use of food as gadgets to save the world from wacky wrongdoers  is definitely the thing I enjoyed most and in this tale there were croissants disguised as walkie talkies and a cupcake catapult!

This is a very enjoyable, witty and amusing story which will liven up any bedtime and appeal to any child who enjoys a bit of adventure and a world where the main characters are animals. The tasty mix of 'crime fighting' dogs with cooking and baked delights will give the stories a wide appeal, particularly those addicted to 'Paw Patrol', 'Octonauts' and 'The Great British Bake Off'.

I would recommend this book to children between 5-8 either to help straddle children from picture books to 'chapter books' or for children who read ably. They are great fun to read with your children and the presentation and production of the books is very visually pleasing. Three books in one is always a bargain too!

"Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School" by Corderoy and Lenton is published by Nosy Crow on 6th September 2016.

You can find out more about the book and authors at www.nosycrow.com or on Twitter @nosycrow

For more recommendations and reviews please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"The Last Days of Leda Grey" Essie Fox

During the oppressive heat wave of 1976 a young journalist, Ed Peters, finds an Edwardian photograph in a junk shop in the seaside town of Brightland. It shows an alluring, dark-haired girl, an actress whose name was Leda Grey.

Enchanted by the image, Ed learns Leda Grey is still living - now a recluse in a decaying cliff-top house she once shared with a man named Charles Beauvois, a director of early silent film. As Beauvois's muse and lover, Leda often starred in scenes where stage magic and trick photography were used to astonishing effect. 

But, while playing a cursed Egyptian queen, the fantasies captured on celluloid were echoed in reality, leaving Leda abandoned and alone for more than half a century - until the secrets of her past result in a shocking climax, more haunting than any to be in found in the silent films of Charles Beauvois.

The words used by critics and reviewer are "sensuous", "beguiling", "mesmerising" and "surreal". I would have to agree with all of these.

The opening is very factual and indicates that ultimately we can expect some tragedy and misdemeanours by the end of the story, but then we are led into a narrative voice that sounds so very unlike a thriller or mystery and much more like literary fiction.

The protagonist, Ed Peters, reminded me of a more grown up Leo from L P Hartley's "The Go Between" as we meet him when he is "lonely, restless and bored" in the "summer's endless heat". He finds a photo of the actress Leda Grey whilst browsing in a shop and

"when the sunlight dazzled on the glass it gave her the look of a living skull. It was such an odd illusion, and it lasted no more than a moment or so but I felt a prickling jolt of fear, a sense that if I stepped too close that girl might reach out through the frame and try to drag me into it. .....When I looked back up again the natural features were restored, so perfect and alluring......"  

The shop keeper's riddles ("The light of attraction between lost souls. Do you also see between the veils?") made me wonder if I was wandering into a kind of 'Tales of the Unexpected' story or whether there would be a supernatural twist emerging along the way. Then he begins to reveal more about the mysterious life of Leda Grey, the girl in the photo, and explains how she is locked away in a house, tucked away from everyone and everything.

"The way she hides herself away like a doomed princess in a fairy tale. I used to visit, every month, as regular as clockwork. But my health, and these drugs I have to take, mean I can no longer drive. Even if I could, the cliff side road has grown too perilous. They've closed it off. The path's still there, but I'd never manage such a trek."

Now I was beginning to think of Miss Havisham, or someone out of a Susan Hill novel as the man continues by saying:

"My sister keeps many secrets. Many skeletons in her closets.....those ghosts may rise to haunt us all." 

Ed decides to go and meet Leda and find out more about her story and her past. He is intrigued by her and sets off to locate the house, buried deep in the overgrown countryside, mystified at how a woman can survive there for so long without visitors and without needing to leave the house. He description of the inside of the house is even more like something from Miss Havisham or 'The Woman in Black':

"....zigzag cracks riddled through the ceiling, all the corners where large spider's webs were dangling down to reach the floor......stained with years of mould and penetrating damp. The paper fell away in folds." 

And later on, the location reinforces this more ghostly and malicious atmosphere when Ed is warned of riptides; he glances back to see the "silhouette of a woman who stood beneath the wall, as vague as a photo negative." 

But Leda is not frightening or unkind, not malicious or cruel. She openly begins to chat with Ed and appears very normal. She welcomes his company. Her conversation is lively and full of imagery as she her thoughts tumble out without any sense of restriction, only openness.

"Such a tumble of memories in my mind, like the tinkling beads of coloured glass that you find in a child's kaleidoscope. Which patterns are the prettiest? how to know which random arrangement of shapes might be the best with which to start?"

I love her speech. I love Fox's use of language and her beautiful, lyrical prose.

Each chapter begins with a quote from Shakespeare and very cleverly create an ominous sense that something deeply unpleasant lurks in the shadows of the house and of Leda's past. The quotes were very effective in creating suspense and tension to the unraveling story.

Fox then switches to italics and we are privy to Leda's story. Her voice is strong and provides a good contrast to that of Ed's. Again, Leda's passages are exquisitely written. They are engaging and intriguing as well as full of metaphors, connotations and analogies.

"My soul had been stolen. Or was it cursed? I only know, from that day on, my fate would be forever bound to the man who'd filmed the promenade. Who didn't even know my name." 

The story continues with the same compelling and mesmerising pull as it delves into themes of love, control, obsession, power and relationships. It is a very original piece of writing with passages that deserve recognition for their lyrical detail and imaginative choice of adjectives. It was not quite the story or style I was expecting but it was enjoyable and absorbing. I was impressed with the prose (as you can tell from the number of quotes I've used) and thought the characters were well crafted.

I have not read anything else by Essie Fox but I am now tempted!

"The Last Days of Leda Grey" will publish on 3rd November 2016.

I received an advanced copy of this novel through NetGalley.

For more recommendations and reviews please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"My Sister's Bones" Nuala Ellwood

Wow, wow and wow. This is one of those books which makes you miss your stop on the train, burn the dinner, forget to put the kids to bed and keeps you reading until way too late into the night. And then, when you finish the last sentence it makes you wake up your husband and say, "Oh my word, that was amazing," because you just have to tell someone how incredible it is!

I literally could not put this book down and towards the end was reading so rapidly my whole body was as tense as the action on the page.

Synopsis:

Kate Rafter is a high-flying war reporter. She's the strong one. The one who escaped their father. Her younger sister Sally didn't. Instead, she drinks.

But when their mother dies, Kate is forced to return home. And on her first night she is woken by a terrifying scream.

At first Kate tells herself it's just a nightmare. But then she hears it again. And this time she knows she's not imagining it.

What secret is lurking in the old family home?
And is she strong enough to uncover it...and make it out alive? 

This book gripped me from the beginning. With lots of clues, half suggestions, memories and leading statement, the reader is working hard from the beginning to try and solve the puzzle of Kate's life and her deep secrets. I was immediately intrigued by her character and the sense of tragedy and guilt that seems to overwhelm her. Ellwood doesn't hold back with hooks, cliffhangers and questions:

"Of the two of us, how is it possible that I am the one who survived?"

Further mystery surrounding the relationship between herself and her seemingly estranged family hints at more dysfunction and even the physical description of her mother's house immediately creates tension and atmosphere akin to a gothic horror story.

"Light was not to be trusted. It revealed too much. And so my mother had installed low-wattage bulbs throughout the house and retreated into the shadows."

I loved this sense of anxiety, fear, unhappiness, lack of trust and implication of threat created through the description, observations and detail of setting, Kate and the other characters.

"......watching him as he skitters about the kitchen like a large confused bird....."

"My miserable childhood is embedded in the wood, in the springs of the mattress, in the blue velvet headboard ....."

Kate is clearly disturbed and haunted. She hears voices and I loved the way Ellwood captured this in her description:

"But as I speak they're back, fading in and out like a radio between frequencies."

The first half of the story is told through the narrative of Kate, interjected with memories of the past - from her childhood as well as her professional life, present day and an interview currently taking place at Herne Bay Police Station - an interview which lasts over several days. The increasing number of hours of this interview and the length of time she has been held in custody begin to build up a sense that possibly Kate is an unreliable narrator, that if the police are detaining her for so long she must be of some danger to someone - or herself. Equally she doesn't even seem to trust herself.

"I have to stop letting my mind wander; I have to be alert, careful. Every word I say here can be used against me."

The reader has to keep up with changes in the chronology and the mixing up of the plot line about Kate's childhood, her experiences in Syria and her present day struggles with the loss of her mother and the strange goings on in the house. It sounds confusing, but it really is not difficult to keep up with Ellwood's fluent prose.

I thought Kate was a fantastic character. I thought the combination of a woman who has been working in Syria dealing with traumatic encounters that have affected her so profoundly, a woman mourning the death of her mother and estranged from her sister, a woman whose family suffered grief and pain throughout her childhood, all came together to create a complex psychological profile that made her completely captivating. An ambitious creation, but one that Ellwood pulls off brilliantly. I could not work out whether to trust or rely on Kate, whether she was reimagining her past, filtering the memories she shared with the reader, or whether she was honest and innocent. But I was well and truly invested in her story and as desperate as her to unravel all the threads that were knitting themselves in to a headache of confusion and suspense.

I was also unsure whether this was going to be a complex psychological thriller, a ghost story or a supernatural tale. There were some brilliant images and moments when Kate 'sees' things but we don't know whether it is real, an illusion, a memory or a drug induced hallucination.

"How can a memory lie dormant like that for so many years then spring forth unbidden?"

I loved the reference to her mother's dictaphone, the appearance of a marble and a further few random objects that are connected with her past which helped create this sense something more ethereal taking place.

To exaggerate this sense of something more unnatural or eerie at work, Kate and her sister's husband visit the graveyard. I really liked Ellwood's comments as Kate scanned the headstones as she wandered through them:

"......Past Rita Mathers who has been 'sleeping peacefully since 1987' and Jim Carter who had been 'one more angel in Heaven' for the last thirty years...."

The references to "bones" is used to create an underlying sense of intrigue, suspense and at times terror. There are lost bones, found bones, bones of your body, loving down to the bones, feeling emotions down to the bones, looking at the bones of a person and perhaps most importantly:

"but they loved the bones of each other really."

And the reference to bones also adds to the general metaphor throughout the novel of people being lost, found, disappearing, being buried within themselves and stripped of everything they thought they knew.

The mental health of our characters is further questioned through the character of Sally as we suddenly see the story through her eyes in a stunning midway twist. Sally was a teenage mum, now an alcoholic and her teenage daughter is missing. She is a self destructive, negative person who we have initially been led to distrust and dislike. Now we begin to learn more about her, her past, her secrets and her burdens. Her alcoholism is captured with bleak realism.

"My eyes are bloodshot and it's been days since I last washed. My hair is limp and greasy; my skin a sickly yellow."

"I have no idea what time of day it is or what day, all I can see in front of me is a bottle of cold white wine and all I can feel, as I cross the road that leads to the shops, is the absence of it in my throat."

I can't say anymore without revealing spoilers or giving too much away. But for the last 30% of this novel I was clinging to the edges of my kindle, my shoulders aching with tension and excitement as I literally could not read fast enough. Echoes of "Room", "The Collector" and Susan Hill raced through my mind. Ellwood's use of literary devices, a compelling storyline and the drama of incorporating such an emotive and contemporary political topic such as Syria made this one of the most tense and climatic novels I have read in a while. Her themes of family, love, loss and guilt are explored with such rawness it is impossible not to become completely engrossed in this powerful psychological thriller.

5/5 stars. Without a doubt. Highly recommended. Read it!

My thanks to NetGalley for approving me for an ARC of this novel.

"My Sister's Bones" is available from Penguin from 1st November and in hardback from 9th Feb 2017.

For more reviews and recommendations please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"The Brazilian Husband" by Rebecca Powell

Determined to honor her late husband’s final request, Judith and her teenage step-daughter, Rosa, set out on a journey from London to Brazil to track down his family and take his ashes home.

But when Judith’s search leads her to Ricardo, a handsome but haunted human rights lawyer, she begins to unravel a web of lies surrounding her husband’s past: a past which is about to come crashing into their present in the form of Rosa’s real mother.

This was a really interesting story. It had so many themes and issues which Powell explores confidently, sensitively and with real conviction. The location of Rio is exotic, full of energy and heat which exaggerates the tension and heightens the complex emotions in the story. It also allows Powell to explore politics, injustice and human rights as well as love, parenting and friendship.

What impressed me most with this novel was how Powell uses contrasts to help tell her story. There are passages of beautiful evocative description, emotional internal dialogue and then the gritty reality of a huge, chaotic and dangerous city. She is able to combine all this and confidently tell a story of love, loss and secrets, while also drawing the reader's attention to political issues and the social problems within Brazil. It is ambitious but it works. The description is at times lyrical and soothing despite the backdrop of Ricardo and Jude's experiences which adds a level of complexity to their emotional journeys.

Essentially the plot revolves around Jude, her late husband Edson and their daughter Rosa. I found Jude an interesting character who was easy to sympathise with. Powell hints at a deeper sadness within her and her unlucky relationships with men. The book introduces us to Jude at a time when she is incredibly vulnerable and I liked that Powell still kept a level of intrigue about her marriage to Edson, using further clues and revelations sparingly to maintain a level of tension as the reader tries to establish the relationships within the story.

"...the anchor of activity had been wrenched from beneath me; the funeral dealt with; the last guest gone; the healthcare equipment returned, the life had simply fallen out of me. I was all alone, jobless and husband-less, breathing in the emptiness of a house that no longer need me. And I missed him, For so long I'd been cursing the constant care he needed from me, that, for all my complaining, it had never dawned on me how much I needed him." 

As a contrast the voice of Rosa, Jude's teenage step daughter, is authentic in its honest, frank, more informal voice. It balances well with that of Jude's narrative and it's down to earth style a welcome break from the emotional intensity of both Jude and Ricardo's narratives. I liked Powell's introductions to Rosa's sections where tourist information was used as a way in to what Rosa was going to reflect on or share with the reader. Again, this also made an effective change of pace and contrast for the reader.

"What the guidebook says:

• 92% of new cars in Brazil use ethanol (produced from sugar cane) as fuel
• Brazil's homicide rate is 25 per 100,000 people - 4 times higher than in the US
• Homosexuality hasn't been illegal in Brazil since 1830"

Ricardo's sections, in italics to signify another narrative voice, are intriguing. There is a level of mystery and suspense surrounding him and this created more tension between the characters and the exploration of friendship and love. He is a good character with admirable motivations (his future wife had explained about the shelter for street children and their desperate need of a lawyer) and one who the reader wants to trust and feel safe with.

"He instinctively wanted to protect both Judith and Rosa. They were so fresh, so full of belief in the world."

The street life of Brazil is well captured and the sense of slight lawlessness and danger felt authentic and convincing. Again, it added further depth to a story that becomes much more than just a domestic drama.

"Ricardo's battered yellow car swerved to avoid a barefoot boy darting out from behind a gaggle of women, before he brought it to an abrupt halt in front of the bus stop. He leant over and opened the passenger door and I jumped in, only just pulling the door shut as he took off again, avoiding a bus by a whisker."

I enjoyed how we share in the emotional healing of Jude as she physically travels to Brazil to say goodbye to Edson, even though she's not fully aware herself that she needs to heal, or that this need for love and a sense of belonging is what she has been missing or searching for:

"How many years had it been since someone last held my hand? It was such a simple thing and yet I felt, in that moment, connected to him in a way I had failed to feel in any of my doomed liaisons per the years..."

"I knew some people would say my 'head down and get on with it' attitude was commendable, brave even, but I knew better: it was the worst kind of cowardice. It was the avoidance of making a real decision, the refusal to take action to change what had become so routine I no longer recognised it as suffering but rather as what my grandmother would refer to as 'my lot'."

As I have said already, I was struck with Powell's prose. It was often surprisingly lyrical and beautiful  which was a stark contrast to the harshness and sometimes distressing events that we are exposed to. Sentences which struck me as particularly powerful come from towards the end of the novel but in quoting them here, I don't think they reveal any spoilers, just reflect Powell's skill at capturing particular moments.

".....I felt the vastness of the landscape echo in my own loneliness..."

"......I took a step towards Rosa as if I could somehow catch the words as they floated towards her and pull them back. But instead I watched as they reached her ears and worked their way down to her heart, which I stood and watched breaking."

I was pleasantly surprised about the breadth, depth and range of emotions, issues, themes and story lines in this book. It wasn't what I was expecting. Although there are several characters with whom we are encouraged to engage closely with and a level of mystery, clues and half hinted at secrets at the beginning of the novel with which to grapple, Powell skilfully weaves an absorbing and memorable tale.

My thanks to Rebecca for a copy of her novel which can be purchased via Amazon from June 2016. For more reviews, information or to purchase the book click on the link below:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Rebecca Powell was born in Bristol.  She has a degree in French and Portuguese from the University of Leeds and in her early twenties she worked for a year at a women's shelter in the northeast of Brazil, before moving to London, where she continued to work for a number of national charities.  She now lives in the South West of France with her husband and three children.  Rebecca is the sister of award-winning novelist Gareth L Powell (Ack-Ack Macaque; The Recollection) and children's author Huw Powell (Spacejackers). 

@BeccaPowellUK

www.rebeccapowellbooks.com

For more recommendations and reviews please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"The Queen of Blogging" Therese Loreskar

"The secret to maintaining a successful blog is to be personal, but not too private. What's the difference? How should I know since my blog is pure lies?"

Thank you so much Sarah Hardy (@sarahhardy681) from bytheletterbookreviews.wordpress.com for recommending this book on your blog! Sarah's praise for this light, entertaining and funny read caught my eye. I downloaded it and there and then, pushed aside my amassing TBR pile and started reading it straight away.

Yes, it is very light, yes it is chick lit, yes it is a little clunky or cliched in places, but do you know what? For a few hours it was a very welcome breath of fresh air. It made me smile, it made me want to read bits out to my friends and it was a chance to look at life less seriously for a bit - and who doesn't need that in their week!

Obviously this will appeal to bloggers, but it will also appeal to anyone who uses social media at all. It will also appeal to the new generation of Bridget Jones' out there, any young women making their way in the world as well as mothers and wives - to be honest it will appeal to anyone who enjoys a fast paced, energetic and comic read.

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Kajsa runs Sweden’s largest Health and Fitness blog. There’s only one small problem; it’s all a big lie. Between her blog entries on healthy nutritious porridge and flashy running shoes, she lies on the sofa watching TV and eating sweets. Her only exercise is using the remote control.

Her life seems perfect: A beautiful house in an attractive suburb of Stockholm, three children, a loving husband and loads of money.

However, things start to crumble when she accidently writes on her blog that she is best friends with a famous Hollywood personal trainer. The problem is he’s never met, let alone heard of her.

An ambitious journalist, who doesn’t believe Kajsa has been honest about her blog or her friendship with the personal trainer, sets out to destroy her.

And here's a snippet from the prologue - which is at which point I knew me and this book were going to get on!

"Blogging. For some people, it's a hobby. For me, Kajsa, it's a way of life. ....I used to think that a little white lie here and there wouldn't hurt anyone, least of all my readers.....that is, until I make the biggest mistake of my life. So, how did it happen? Well, let me start at the beginning."

I did like Kajsa. Her children are frequently "locked into a screen of some sort", she fills her blog with healthy recipes and photos of meals she finds online "which she has apparently made today" to uphold her reputation as a domestic goddess. She breaks into a private gymnasium with a handful of designer sports clothes she has been given to take random shots of her "participating" in gym classes, before she gets kicked out, which she then stores and uses sparingly on her blog posts to give the illusion of a fitness professional.

Her narrative is fast, informal, entertaining and ironically very honest, despite the fact her whole life is a bit of a charade. She's a character you can quickly engage with and the pages hurtle along with enough laughs to make it very readable and enough intrigue to make you want to watch the almost slapstick events spiral into chaos even when you almost want to hide behind a cushion and cringe on her behalf. There were a few moments when the quality of the writing slipped but, on reflection, I wonder if this is deliberate to mimic the style of modern written communication on social media and the often short, snappy style of blog posts, as well as reflect the slightly naive and straight forward character of Kajsa.

There were moments when my sympathy for her was a little tested as she is prone to being a little selfish and often takes advantage of her husband's good will, but as she is a woman essentially 'living a little white lie' I can't expect her to be the most reliable of narrators or perhaps the most dedicated of mothers and wives! Some of her comments I could relate to, like the fact when the husband gets up with the children there is so much noise she can't relax, but at some points her behaviour was a little too exaggerated and perhaps less plausible. But hey, this is a fun novel and half the fun was watching situations unravel with more insight and emotional intelligence than Kajsa; she is fallible, she is flawed and she is essentially a little bit of a caricature. But she is at the same time very likeable.

"The hubby got all angry when he came back into the kitchen and realised I hadn't even started dinner. What was I up to while he got the kids bathed and took the dog for a walk? I don't think he gets how hard it is to keep up with all these videos [posted online]....." 

Actually the relationship with her husband and his over attentiveness becomes a more important part of the sub plot as the novel unfolds - in fact, it's glaring obvious to the reader that something is amiss but Kajsa is just grateful to exploit his enthusiasm to spend time with the children while she can indulge in whatever "research" she is currently obsessing about, so she fails to really see what might be happening until it's too late. Well, even then, it takes a while for her to really put two and two together!

Having said that, Kajsa can be very quick witted and imaginative. She is able to creatively get herself out of many tight situations online - I particularly liked her invention of the "Gothenburg Marathon" and how she was able to redeem herself amongst her followers with her "training". And happy readers means a higher advertising revenue! As a business woman, she is not daft!

Anyone who is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest will enjoy Kajsa's description of her blogging:

"I scoffed some leftover sweets from the kids, followed by a cup of coffee for my breakfast. No way I can show the truth, not when I'm being paid a ridiculous amount of money to blog about my workout trips and healthy recipes. Finally the breakfast entry is complete. I sit back and look at the image I uncovered of super healthy, flaxseed porridge, topped with fresh blueberries, along with a carrot and ginger juice. Everything is immaculately displayed on beautiful china. Thank God for random pictures on the web." 

And for lunch:

"My Googling uncovered a nutritious spinach soup, crowed with half an egg and low fat Quark to grace the lunch entry. Even Weight Watchers would be proud of this lean lunch. Of course, in reality, no one would be full for any prolonged period of time after eating that. They would need to follow it up with a KitKat."

There are a whole string of hilarious and ridiculous scrapes and situations that Kajsa and her friend Rebecca find themselves falling into. Their inventiveness is impressive and entertaining. They are vivid characters and the pages are full of life and energy. There are some more serious aspects to the plot but essentially this is an entertaining and comic read about our current obsession with social media and the personas we can project through them.

I am wavering between a 3.5-4 out of 5 star rating because this book was one of those right-time-right-place-just-what-I-needed-today kind of books (yes, that is an official genre, didn't you know?!!). It was a little breath of fresh air. I read it almost in one sitting. It made me smile. It entertained me. It made some comic observations on our use of social media. It gave me the same pleasure as watching "Bridget Jones' Baby" and "Bad Moms" has at the cinema recently and for this I think it deserves that rating.

This is a Friday-night-film kind of a book. It will undoubtedly be very popular and is guaranteed to bring a bit of a giggle to anyone's day. Recommend!

Thanks Sarah for bringing it to my attention. Please follow her on Twitter for loads more excellent recommendations and see her review of this book here:

https://bytheletterbookreviews.com/2016/10/18/queen-of-blogging-the-unmissable-laugh-out-loud-read-by-therese-loreskar/

 And when I purchased "Queen of Blogging" (Oct 2016) it was only 99p. I mean, who can say no to that? It's cheaper that a bowl of granola or a carrot and ginger juice!

For more reviews and recommendations from me, follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)