If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie

If I Fall, If I Die
By Michael Christie
Published by Cornerstone (12 February 2015)
ISBN: 978-1473505209

Publisher's description
Will has never been to the outside, at least not since he can remember.

And he has certainly never got to know anyone other than his mother, a fiercely loving yet wildly eccentric agoraphobe who drowns in panic at the thought of opening the front door. Their little world comprises only the rooms in their home, each named for various exotic locales and filled with Will's art projects. But soon the confines of his world close in on him.

Despite his mother's protests, Will ventures outside clad in a protective helmet and braces himself for danger. He eventually meets and befriends Jonah, a quiet boy who introduces him to skateboarding.

Will welcomes his new world with enthusiasm, his fears fading and his body hardening with each new bump, scrape and fall. But life quickly gets complicated. When a local boy goes missing, Will and Jonah want to uncover what happened. They embark on an extraordinary adventure that pulls Will far from the confines of his closed-off world and into the throes of early adulthood and the dangers that everyday life offers.

If I Fall, If I Die is a remarkable debut full of dazzling prose and unforgettable characters, as well as a poignant and heartfelt depiction of coming of age.

My verdict
I enjoyed the first half of If I Fall, If I Die, which starts off as the story of a boy exploring the outside world for the first time. Will has been stuck inside his home for all of his life (so far) with his mother Diane, who developed agoraphobia following the death of her parents and twin brother.

Will has now turned 11 and wants to explore. He enrols at school, makes friends and discovers that the 'outside' is not as scary as his mother has led him to believe. At the same time, Diane has to learn to let him go.

My interest lagged in the second half of the book. Will seeks adventure when one of his new friends disappears. I didn't find the mystery element grabbed my attention and the plotline involving Butler and his gang wasn't believable. These stories were then interweaved with what happened to Diane's brother.

Overall, this was a well-written book, but I can only give it three stars. I would have enjoyed it more if the author had stuck to the story of Will and Diane, with her agoraphobia and twin brother, without going off track.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Close to Home by Lisa Jackson - BLOG TOUR

I am delighted to be today's stop on the BLOG TOUR for Lisa Jackson's Close to Home, which was published in paperback on 26 March 2015 by Mulholland Books (imprint of Hodder & Stoughton).

READ MY REVIEW

Close to Home
By Lisa Jackson
Published by Mulholland Books (Hardback - 25 September 2014, Paperback - 26 March 2015)
ISBN: 978-1-444-79330-7

Publisher's description
The home where Sarah McAdams grew up has always terrified her. But now she's moved back with her daughters, determined to put her childhood fears behind her.

It's harder than she thought. Increasingly haunted by the past, Sarah soon realises that the present has its own threats. One by one, teenage girls are disappearing...

Frantic for her daughter's safety, Sarah feels the house's walls closing in on her once more. Somewhere deep in her memory is the key to a very real danger.

And only by confronting the terrifying truth can she protect her children from a nightmare that is roaring back to life...


My verdict
Close to Home is a suspense novel that kept me intrigued right until the last page. It contains mystery, some romance, teenage angst, ghostly apparitions, kidnappings and family secrets.

Sarah believes her family home is haunted, as does her youngest daughter Gracie, and she is determined to discover its secrets. There are gaps in her memories, and she hopes that returning to Blue Peacock Manor, her childhood home, will help her remember them. The house has seen more than its fair share of tragedy over the years, beginning with Sarah's ancestor over 100 years ago, who plunged to her death off the rooftop. It is now in need of repair and renovation, and Sarah hopes that this will give her and her daughters a new start following her divorce.

Clint, Sarah's next door neighbour, is an old boyfriend, and there is clearly still a spark between them. Eldest daughter Jade is a typical teenager, hating her new home and struggling to fit in at school. Meanwhile, someone is kidnapping teenage girls and the whole town is on edge.

Close to Home flows well. There are a lot of different characters, and I only worked out who the kidnapper was right towards the end. The revealing of the family secrets also came as a surprise. This was a highly enjoyable read.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review.

Wish You Were Here by Catherine Alliott

Wish You Were Here
By Catherine Alliott
Published by Michael Joseph, Penguin UK (26 February 2015)
ISBN: 978-0718179403

Publisher's description
When Flora, James and their two teenage daughters are offered the holiday of a lifetime in a chateau in the south of France in return for one simple deed, they jump at the chance. They exchange the confines of Clapham, the weight of the mortgage and anxieties over their future for a blissful break.

But Flora didn't anticipate a mysterious guest and a whole heap of family baggage coming too.

With James developing a schoolboy crush on a famous singer and Flora distracted by ghosts from her pasts, their dream holiday suddenly takes some very unexpected turns.


My verdict
Admittedly, I struggled with Wish You Were Here at first. There are a lot of characters and I felt that the book could have been shortened with extra editing. But once I went back to try again, I did find the book to be more enjoyable second time around.

The plot does speed up as it goes along. The descriptions of France are well written and the gentle humour is entertaining. However, I did feel that the teenage characters seemed more mature than the adults at times. Family secrets are revealed towards the end and, as expected, everything ties up nicely, making the book ideal for a summer holiday easy read.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ugly Young Thing by Jennifer Jaynes

Ugly Young Thing
By Jennifer Jaynes
Published by Thomas & Mercer (3 March 2015)
ISBN: 978-1477827352

Publisher's description
Sixteen-year-old Allie has already experienced a lifetime of horror, having lost her mother and serial killer brother to mental illness.

Returning to her childhood home in Louisiana, Allie ends up in foster care and is placed with Miss Bitty, an eccentric but kindly older women who shoes her a new direction and brighter future.

But Allie's new life takes a devastating turn when young women in the area start turning up dead, and she begins to see shadowy figures outside her bedroom. As Miss Bitty grows inexplicably distant, a nagging voice makes Allie wonder if death has found her yet again… or if it never really left her at all.

My verdict
Ugly Young Thing is the sequel to Never Smile at Strangers, which I considered to be an excellent thriller. Although Ugly Young Thing contains references to the first book, it can easily be read as a standalone novel.

Allie is a teenager with a tainted past. Her mother was a mentally ill prostitute who killed several people and her brother was a disturbed murderer. After witnessing her brother's suicide, she runs away from the crime scene, hoping to start a new life for herself. In desperation, she eventually returns to her home town and is fostered by Miss Bitty.

In her home town, there is a killer on the loose, and young girls are being targeted.  Allie feels that she is being watched. Miss Bitty is determined to keep Allie safe, but the elderly woman has secrets of her own.

Ugly Young Thing is full of mystery and intrigue. Jennifer Jaynes's words flow smoothly and are a pleasure to read. She gets emotions spot on - whether it's the way people look, act or behave - and delivers dialogue and action with ease. I couldn't put it down and the ending was completely unexpected.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My review of Never Smile at Strangers: http://off-the-shelfbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/never-smile-at-strangers.html

Breathing Out by Karen Hockney

Breathing Out
By Karen Hockney
Published by Urbane Publications (1 November 2014)
ISBN: 978-1-909273-72-6

Publisher's description
'You've got cancer' are not the words you expect to hear when you're a 40-something marathon-running fitness freak who has never even smoked a cigarette.

Karen Hockney's extraordinary battle with breast cancer was different in two ways. First, as an Englishwoman living in the south of France, a stone's throw from Cannes, she suddenly had to contend with language barriers and an unfamiliar health system (albeit an extraordinarily
efficient one).

Secondly, as a leading showbusiness writer who has penned for publications including Hello, The Times and You Magazine, her job was jet-setting around the world to meet some of the most famous celebrities of our time.

How could she cope with facing them sans wig, battling nausea and exhaustion? How would
they react - and was it really possible to go from Cancer to Cannes Film Festival in the space of a few weeks?

A memoir with a difference, Breathing Out is full of practical advice, meticulous research and knowledge garnered from Karen's journey, punctuated by hope, positivity and a smattering of bleak humour.

My verdict
Karen Hockney was fit and healthy, yet at the age of 44 she discovered a lump in her breast that turned out to be cancerous. Breathing Out is the story of her journey, from her initial diagnosis until the end of her treatment. Karen endured almost immediate surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

This informative, emotional and humorous account demonstrates how a cancer diagnosis has an impact on family, friends and work colleagues. One of the hardest issues for Karen to think about was how to break the news to her two teenage daughters. There were many ups and downs in the year after her diagnosis, but Karen's positive attitude helped her (and her family) to get through such a difficult time.

Cancer is a difficult subject to write about. In her book, Karen passes on her observations about life with cancer and advice on how to get through the different treatments. She also discusses how she changed her diet and lifestyle following a consultation with a Harley Street nutritionist.

Breathing Out isn't a book to 'enjoy', but it's certainly a thought-provoking one. Hopefully, it will help others struck by this terrible disease.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Distance by Helen Giltrow

The Distance
By Helen Giltrow 
Published by Orion (26 February 2015)
ISBN: 978-1-4091-2734-5

Publisher's description
They don't call her Karla any more. She's Charlotte Alton. She doesn't trade in secrets, she doesn't erase dark pasts, and she doesn't break hit-men into prison.

Except that is exactly what she's been asked to do.

The job is impossible: get the assassin into an experimental new prison so that he can take out a target who isn't officially there.

It's a suicide mission, and quite probably a set-up.

So why can't she say no?

My verdict
The Distance is definitely one of my five star reads for 2015.

Charlotte Alton inhabits a brutal world of sinister dealings and espionage, where no one is necessarily what they seem. She has instructions to send a hit man, Simon Johanssen, into a self-governing prison where inmates rule the roost. But the target isn't on any prison records, and Charlotte is determined to discover why.

In The Distance, there are many different characters, often with shadowy pasts, and it took me a while to remember who they were, occasionally flicking back a few pages to remind myself.  But this didn't detract from the book. The Distance's complex storyline has various layers seamlessly weaved together. This intelligent thriller is fast paced, with twists and turns and some violent scenes.

The Distance reminded me of an episode of Spooks, with a roller coaster ride until the end. I found it difficult to put the book down and hope to meet Charlotte Alton and Simon Johanssen again.

I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

My Dear Bessie by Chris Barker and Bessie Moore

My Dear Bessie

By Chris Barker and Bessie Moore (edited by Simon Garfield)

Published by Canongate Books (5 February 2015)

ISBN: 978-1782115670

Publisher's description

Twenty hours have gone since I last wrote. I have been thinking of you. I shall think of you until I post this, and until you get it. Can you feel, as you read these words that I am thinking of you now; aglow, alive, alert at the thought that you are in the same world, and by some strange chance loving me.

In September 1943, Chris Barker was serving as a signalman in North Africa when he decided to brighten the long days of war by writing to old friends. One of these was Bessie Moore, a former work colleague. The unexpected warmth of Bessie's reply changed their lives forever. Crossing continents and years, their funny, affectionate and intensely personal letters are a remarkable portrait of a love played out against the backdrop of the Second World War. Above all, their story is a stirring example of the power of letters to transform ordinary lives.

My verdict

Thanks to social media and instant messaging, the art of letter writing appears to have been lost over the decades. As a teenager, I would send letters to friends who lived up the road, just for the sheer pleasure of receiving post. Now my teen and pre-teen simply text, message or Skype when they want to contact their friends - no more waiting in anticipation for a reply or writing long descriptive paragraphs of events or emotions.

My Dear Bessie is a love story, an insight into wartime romance. The raw emotion in the letters between Chris and Bessie is divine. The devotion and concern for one another. The feelings they couldn't bear to bottle up or hide away. People struggled to cope with their loved ones being away for long periods of time, missing them both physically and emotionally, yet - as this book shows - love could survive and even blossom through the war. 

The descriptions of the wartime events, both in London and abroad, are truly fascinating to read. Within their letters, Chris and Bessie discuss moral and political issues, providing historical background. I found it fascinating to read how the British service men passed their time whilst abroad - how they still enjoyed local culture, for example, and sent photos and packages home.

The letters are fairly one sided, as unfortunately Chris had to destroy many of Bessie's letters due to lack of storage space. However, he does refer to her letters within his own, which helps to keep the flow going.

If you love old-fashioned love stories and wartime romance, My Dear Bessie is a wonderful read.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.