Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Miranda Dickinson

Somewhere Beyond the Sea
By Miranda Dickinson
Published by Pan (14 June 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Can you fall in love with someone before you’ve even met?

Seren MacArthur is living a life she never intended. Trying to save the Cornish seaside business her late father built – while grieving for his loss – she has put her own dreams on hold and is struggling. Until she discovers a half-finished seaglass star on her favourite beach during an early morning walk. When she completes the star, she sets into motion a chain of events that will steal her heart and challenge everything she believes.

Jack Dixon is trying to secure a better life for daughter Nessie and himself. Left a widower and homeless when his wife died, he’s just about keeping their heads above water. Finding seaglass stars completed on Gwithian beach is a bright spark that slowly rekindles his hope.

Seren and Jack are searching for their missing pieces. But when they meet in real life, it’s on the opposing sides of a battle. Jack is managing the redevelopment of a local landmark, and Seren is leading the community campaign to save it.

Both have reason to fight – Seren for the cause her father believed in, Jack for his livelihood. But only one can win. With so much at stake, will they ever find what they are really looking for?

My verdict
Somewhere Beyond the Sea was as magical and sparkly as the seaglass that features heavily within the story.

This is a book about family and grief, love and friendship, with a strong heartwarming 'feel good' focus. It provided me with a much-needed break from my usual crime fiction reads at the time. It's sad and moving yet also uplifting and hopeful - a sweet and poignant read that reminded me of a Meg Ryan film, a cross between You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle.

I loved the Cornish setting, and author Miranda Dickinson really brings the location and characters to life with her vivid descriptions. Jack and Seren narrate alternative chapters so I got to know both of them very well, which meant I then cared strongly about the story. I could almost smell the sea and hear the waves, as I imagined myself walking along the beaches in search of seaglass stars.

A perfect book for cold evenings snuggled under a blanket (with a glass of wine and box of chocolates). And yes, it made me shed a few tears by the end!

The Rest of Me by Katie Marsh

The Rest of Me
By Katie Marsh
Published by Hodder & Stoughton (14 June 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Alex Fox knows there are lots of things she should be. 

She should be the perfect wife to her chronically ill husband Sam, and the perfect mother to their two daughters. She should be excelling in her high-stress job. And she should be completing the demanding to-do lists she makes to keep herself on track. 

Even if, just sometimes, she doesn't have time to breathe.

When Sam's condition worsens and Alex donates a kidney to save his life, her carefully scheduled existence starts to unravel - eventually forcing her to face up to a past that she has buried for years.

As the family she has fought so hard for threatens to fall apart, can Alex finally confront the mistakes that have shaped her - and rediscover what is most important in life?

My verdict
I read a lot of books but none have touched me so much recently as The Rest of Me by Katie Marsh. I was Izzy between the ages of 7 and 12, and again in my adult years, and could easily be Alex now. I won't go into details, as this is a review of the book, not of my life. But this book left me in pieces and in tears, late in the evening one night, unable to sleep, taking me back several decades, bringing back memories that I'd stored away.

I love Katie Marsh's writing. I don't read much of this genre, but her books are definite 'must reads' for me. She covers topical emotional issues, writing straight from the heart (and I know that this was a particularly emotional book for Katie Marsh to write). She also covers medical issues with sensitivity and believability. Her writing is so descriptive that it gets right under my skin every time, with characters so real that I wonder if they do truly exist. And she sprinkles all of her books with some gentle humour to lighten the load.

It's so easy to give in to the bullies, as well as the self-bullying and the self-doubt. Katie Marsh reminds us that we can be stronger than this, we can rise above it and that we mustn't let the bullies win. Her books are always heartbreaking yet also uplifting and full of hope. They're honest, raw and powerful. And they always make me laugh, cry and think a lot about the important things in life, long after I've turned the final page.

The Last Day by Claire Dyer

The Last Day 
By Claire Dyer
Published by Dome Press (15 February 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher 

Publisher's description

Every ending starts with a beginning; every beginning, an end. 

Boyd and Vita have been separated for six years when Boyd asks if he can move back in to the house they both still own, bringing with him his twenty-seven-year-old girlfriend, Honey. 

Of course, Vita agrees: enough water has travelled under enough bridges since her marriage to Boyd ended and she is totally over him; nothing can touch her now. Boyd and Honey move in and everyone is happy - or so it seems.

However, all three are keeping secrets.

My verdict
The Last Day is an emotional read with flowing poetic prose. This was one of those books that I had to read out loud at various points to appreciate the author's well-crafted words and beautifully observed character descriptions and interactions. It's tightly plotted, with a underlying sense of mystery about events to come.

The story focuses on three main characters - Vita, her estranged husband Boyd and his young girlfriend Honey. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but this book isn't a love triangle. It's told in the first person through Vita's eyes and through both Boyd and Honey in the third person. Yet through the author's beautiful writing, I felt that I got to know the characters equally well - their thoughts, beliefs and inner turmoil. I was living their lives with them.

The Last Day is a story of relationships, love and marriage, grief, loss and tragedy, life's ups and downs, secrets, deception and lies. It's very much a story of people, rather than places, and is heartbreaking, compassionate and poignant. It's about who we love and how we love. What drives us and what breaks us. How secrets, and life events, can make us stronger but also weaken us. As the book evolves, secrets bubbling under the surface gradually spreading their wings towards the final page.

The Last Day reminded me of the importance of living each day to the full, as we never know what's coming next. No day can be like the previous ones as our lives are constantly changing, and every day influences the days ahead of us - for better or for worse.

I recently found these two quotes on 'last days'. Which path in life one do you follow?

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Coming Home to Island House by Erica James

Coming Home to Island House
By Erica James
Published by Orion (11 January 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy through the Lovereading Readers' Panel.

Publisher's description

It's the summer of 1939, and after touring an unsettled Europe to promote her latest book, Romily Temple returns home to Island House and the love of her life, the charismatic Jack Devereux. 

But when Jack falls ill, his estranged family are called home and given seven days to find a way to bury their resentments and come together. 

With war now declared, each member of the family is reluctantly forced to accept their new stepmother and confront their own shortcomings. But can the habits of a lifetime be changed in one week? And can Romily, a woman who thrives on adventure, cope with the life that has been so unexpectedly thrust upon her?

My verdict
I smiled my way through Coming Home to Island House, with its uplifting writing and gentle humour. Not many books give me a warm feeling inside, but this one certainly did.

Author Romily Temple, who is used to leading an independent adventurous lifestyle, and her dysfunctional stepfamily are thrown together unexpectedly after Romily's husband Jack falls ill. His family have grown apart over the years. Not only do they not know Jack married Romily but they hadn't even met her - so this is a shock when they arrive.  Each member of the family is very distinctive, with their own little quirks and beliefs, creating a diverse array of characters. It's their diversity that keeps this story flowing, as they learn to accept one another for who they are - and as Romily copes with her new role in life.

This book is about family dynamics and sibling relationships but also political uncertainty at a time of war. The story takes place mainly in the UK, but also covers the situation in Germany and Italy, highlighting the plight of Jews as the Nazi movement rises in Europe. In many ways, the book's theme is war itself - between family members and also countries - and the impact it has on people's lives.

I highly recommend Coming Home to Island House if you're looking for an easy read - perfect for cold winter nights with a mug of hot chocolate at your side. Go on... treat yourself!

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

The Music Shop
By Rachel Joyce
Published by Transworld (13 July 2017)

Publisher's description

1988. Frank owns a music shop. It is jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre. Classical, jazz, punk – as long as it’s vinyl he sells it. Day after day Frank finds his customers the music they need. 

Then into his life walks Ilse Brauchmann.

Ilse asks Frank to teach her about music. His instinct is to turn and run. And yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with her pea-green coat and her eyes as black as vinyl. But Ilse is not what she seems. And Frank has old wounds that threaten to re-open and a past he will never leave behind ... 

My verdict
The Music Shop is a heartwarming character-driven novel with rhythmic writing, descriptive prose and gentle humour. It's a quirky and nostalgic easy read and should appeal to most people.

Set in the late 1980s, it prompted me to reminisce about the music and culture of my teenage years. This was a great time of change, with the housing boom and property development, and within music itself, with the rise of shiny CDs and synthetic pop bands. Yet Frank, the key character in The Music Shop, doesn't like change. Instead, he loves his old vinyls and the other small high street shops. He has a gift for choosing music to suit his customers' needs, yet he ignores his own.

The Music Shop has a love story at its heart, but not just between Frank and the mysterious Ilse. It's about loving yourself, your community and the changing world. This is a book about dealing with change, whether it's sticking to your principles or accepting that the world is moving on around you - and that you'll be lost if you don't take the plunge yourself.

The ending is a bit 'cheesy' and maybe a little rushed. But overall, this relaxing read provides much food for thought.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher (through Lovereading).

This Beautiful Life by Katie Marsh

I am delighted to be today's stop on the blog tour for This Beautiful Life by Katie Marsh. This Beautiful Life was published by Hodder & Stoughton on 27 July 2017.


This Beautiful Life
By Katie Marsh
Published by Hodder & Stoughton (27 July 2017)

Publisher's description

What happens when you get the second chance you never expected?
Abi is living her happy ending. She's in remission and is ready to make the most of her second chance at life. But during Abi's illness her family has fallen apart. Her husband Johnhas made decisions that are about to come back to haunt him, while her teenage son Seb is battling with a secret of his own.

Set to the songs on Abi's survival playlist, this is the story of what happens next as Abi tries to rebuild her family. Can she bring the people she loves most in the world back together again... before it's too late?

My verdict
Katie Marsh has done it again. Smiles and laughter sprinkled with tissues and tears are how I would describe her books.  Or maybe tissues and tears sprinkled with smiles and laughter. I can't decide which combination was triggered the most while I read This Beautiful Life, a stunning book that's honest, beautifully written and filled with raw emotion.

I loved both of her previous books, and still she's managed to top them. Yet again, she's tackled a health issue that will be close to people's hearts - the impact of cancer on the whole family. A terrible disease that leaves few families untouched. Abi is in remission from cancer and now needs to put her family back together. I lived these characters' lives as if I were a fly on the wall - or rather, inside their heads, reading their thoughts, feeling their feelings... Abi's family felt like mine - and could be mine as I feel I know them all so well.

This Beautiful Life left me an emotional wreck, taking me on a family's rollercoaster journey as they look towards the future. Just as well I finished reading this late at night after the rest of the household had gone to bed, as I was clasping a box of tissues in my hand. There's a Spotify playlist associated with the book. The song titles are scattered between chapters, making this book seem ever so real and ever so personal. I tried to read it slowly, but couldn't put it down.

Bring on the next Katie Marsh book. I'll be waiting with tissues at the ready, prepared for more tears, smiles and laughter. This is going to be one of my favourite books of 2017.

I received an Advance Reader Copy.

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Woman of the Hour by Jane Lythell

Woman of the Hour
By Jane Lythell
Published by Head of Zeus (3 November 2016)

Publisher's description

Meet Liz Lyon: respected TV producer, stressed-out executive, guilty single mother. 

StoryWorld is the nation's favourite morning show, and producer Liz Lyon wants to keep it that way. Her job is to turn real-life stories into thrilling TV – and keep a lid on the scandals and backbiting that happen off-stage. 

But then simmering tensions erupt at the station, trapping Liz in a game of one-upmanship where she doesn't know the rules. As the power struggle intensifies, can Liz keep her cool and keep her job? Does she even want to? 

My verdict
Woman of the Hour is an intense fictional look at what goes on behind the scenes in the pressurised world of live morning TV. It's certainly not as glamorous as people are often led to believe.

In places, Woman of the Hour reads more like memoir than fiction, providing an honest and realistic account. Jane Lythell clearly knows her subject, having worked in TV for years, and this shines through in her writing with so much detail described - in terms of setting, daily lives and people's rising emotions. It was fascinating reading, filled with secrets, lies, ambition and power. Some things made me laugh, others brought tears to my eyes - and then there was some events that made me cringe. There are a wide range of characters, many with big egos and others that I couldn't help but hate.

The chapters alternate between Liz's work life and her home life, showing how she juggles the two (often struggling to do so) and how each impacts upon the other, shaping her responses to people and events. This book explores whether working women really can have it all - being good mothers while rising in their careers. It also looks at the trials and tribulations of single motherhood and dealing with feisty teenagers.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the author.

Why the change of direction? by Jane Lythell

I'm delighted to welcome Jane Lythell to my blog today, to talk about why she has changed direction with her novels. Woman of the Hour was published by Head of Zeus in paperback on 3 November 2016. 

Why the change of direction with my novels?

By Jane Lythell

My first two novels The Lie of You and After the Storm are psychological thrillers. I have always been interested in what drives a person to do extreme things and in these two books I explored obsessive behaviour.

The Lie of You is about Heja who wants to destroy Kathy who is her work colleague. Kathy is a new mum and is struggling to cope on her return to work. She feels all her work errors are of her own making. Gradually her home life as well as her work life starts to fall apart. In fact she is being systematically undermined by Heja. Heja is a chilling and obsessive woman and yet by the end of the book the reader understands what drove her to act as she did and maybe even to feel some sympathy for her. We all have a dark side which we hide from the world. Sometimes something happens which tips a person into full blown obsession. 

My second novel After the Storm is set in Belize City and an island in the Caribbean Sea. There are four main characters: British couple Anna and Rob and an American couple Owen and Kim who have an old sailing boat they have been living on for three years. On their first night in Belize Anna and Rob meet Owen and Kim. Owen suggests they charter his boat and he will take them to the island of Roatan, where the diving is sensational. Anna is fearful but Rob persuades her it will be a great adventure. Unknown to them Kim is desperate to go home to Florida but Owen is determined to continue their life on the boat. Straightaway we have conflict of wishes between the four characters and a small boat is a very claustrophobic place when tensions start to build.

The two couples set off. It takes ten days to reach Roatan and that is a long time when one of the four, Owen, is hiding a terrible secret that is eating away at him. The strapline of the book is Some Secrets Destroy You. The storm of the title is both a weather storm and a psychological storm. By the end of the novel all four characters have been changed by spending this intense time together. The underlying theme is that you need to bring dark secrets out into the light of day in order for them to lose their destructive power.

I greatly enjoyed exploring the dark side of my characters in both these novels. With a thriller you set up a problem that has to be solved and you are guaranteed a strong forward momentum. Given this why did I decide to change direction with my third novel and move away from psychological thrillers to writing contemporary women’s fiction?

The reason was that I had a strong desire to write about the issues raised by a woman’s working life. So many novels depict women’s family and emotional lives. I’ve seen much less fiction about a woman struggling with the pressures of work. Yet that had been my life. A single working mother, trying to keep all the balls up in the air, feeling conflicted about competing pressures. I wanted to explore that.

I wanted to write a strong female character who also has her weaknesses and vulnerabilities. My heroine Liz Lyon is 41 years old and divorced. She is a respected TV producer and a guilty single mother. I wanted to show the whole woman: work-Liz, calm, controlled, soothing egos and managing a difficult boss and home-Liz who is far more emotional and reveals her real thoughts and feelings. At work Liz has to bite her tongue and censor what she says. At home she can let rip. And she fears that she is a better mother to her team than she is to her beloved daughter Flo.

The drama of the workplace offers such a rich vein to explore in fiction. So many issues and moral dilemmas are thrown up by this aspect of our lives. There are power struggles, intrigue and betrayals as well as moments of satisfaction and fulfilment.

I think it is important not to keep doing the same thing in your writing just because it worked the first time. I worked as a producer in television for 15 years and saw this happen too often where repetition of a successful format stifled creativity. You have to trust in your readers as why would they want the same thing over and over?

Finally, for me the most important thing is to create characters my readers believe in. It doesn't matter if they dislike a character or adore them. But it does matter if my readers don't believe in them.

I am currently writing a second book about Liz Lyon and StoryWorld TV station which will be published by Head of Zeus in August. 

About Jane Lythell

Jane Lythell lives in Brighton and is a sea-lover, star gazer, film and football fan. She worked as a television producer for fifteen years. She then moved to the British Film Institute as Deputy Director, a year as Chief Executive of BAFTA followed by seven years at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Her debut novel, The Lie of You was published in January 2014; her second After the Storm in January 2015 and her third novel Woman of the Hour in July 2016, all by Head of Zeus.

Find Jane on her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter - @janelythell

About Woman of the Hour

Woman of the Hour
By Jane Lythell
Published by Head of Zeus (Paperback - 3 November 2016)
ISBN: 978-1784971212

Publisher's description

Meet Liz Lyon: respected TV producer, stressed-out executive, guilty single mother.
StoryWorld is the nation's favourite morning show, and producer Liz Lyon wants to keep it that way. Her job is to turn real-life stories into thrilling TV – and keep a lid on the scandals and backbiting that happen off-stage.
But then simmering tensions erupt at the station, trapping Liz in a game of one-upmanship where she doesn't know the rules. As the power struggle intensifies, can Liz keep her cool and keep her job? Does she even want to?

Buy Woman of the Hour from Amazon UK here.