Holiday Reading...
As you sneak just one more pair of shoes into the case, here are a few more novels that deserve to travel with you!
A Stolen Summer by Allegra Huston
Maybe it’s because I’m a woman of a certain age…but I could totally empathise with this novel and raced through it. Allegra Huston really ‘got it’ and tells a good story. It is sensitively written and does not make Eve look a fool, instead it shows her journey of self discovery.
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‘One chance meeting will change her forever…
Wife, mother, friend – Eve Armanton is all of these things. But who is she really? Now her son has left home, Eve no longer recognises the middle-aged woman staring back at her each morning – or the cold, loveless marriage she finds herself left in.
A chance meeting with Micajah Burnett, the son of an old school friend, stirs Eve in ways she hasn’t felt in years. Micajah offers youth, desire and freedom – and Eve takes the dangerous and liberating step into a passionate affair. Eve is about to discover who she was, who she is and who she can be. Only one thing is certain – nothing will ever be the same again…
Thank you @HQStories for my copy of this novel
The Holiday by TM Logan
So, it’s been too hot to do anything but read…and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.
Totally different to my previous read, A Stolen Summer, this was a killer thriller.
I loved the premise, 4 girl friends getting together for a summer holiday,this time including husbands & children, what could possibly go wrong?
Unfortunately straight away Kate suspects her husband is having an affair, with one of the other women.I did not believe that, as it seemed just too signposted- and wanted to shake her when she didn’t ask the right questions!
In spite of my frustrations, the novel has great pace & endless twists and reveals, all in the very evocative setting of Provence.
A few heart stopping moments later I arrived at the unexpected end- and was surprised to learn that TM Logan was a ‘Tim’. He writes well as a woman and and even though the story is told from various viewpoints, I particularly enjoyed the chapters by Kate.
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StartFragment Seven days. Three families. One killer. It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Provence. But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends. One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imaginedEndFragment
StartFragmentBecause someone in the villa is prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.EndFragment
Thank you ReadersFirst & Zaffre for my copy of this book
the man who didn't call by Rosie Walsh
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, having wrongly assumed it would be a light romance, I became totally caught up in the story and couldn’t put it down- how fortunate that there was yet another sunny day to enjoy reading it.
The original premise is probably one we all know, the person who fails to get in touch, we’ve all been there, and how it rips you apart. To begin with it reminded me a little of one of my favourite films, ‘Before Sunrise’, and I loved the way the story goes between the amazing week Sarah and Eddie spent together and the present day, with letters interspersed which gradually reveal more of the back story.
It becomes obvious that there is a twist, and yet another twist, right up to the end.
Sarah’s friends are interesting and credible characters, the story is well written and flows easily between locations, tying up loose ends neatly.
Ultimately I was frustrated, then moved and finally was left thinking, what would I do in the same situation? An unusual and thought provoking story.
PS I loved the cover, simple and effective!
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Imagine you meet a man, spend seven glorious days together, and fall in love. And it’s mutual: you’ve never been so certain of anything.
So when he leaves for a long-booked holiday and promises to call from the airport, you have no cause to doubt him. But he doesn’t call. Your friends tell you to forget him, but you know they're wrong: something must have happened; there must be a reason for his silence.
What do you do when you finally discover you're right? That there is a reason – and that reason is the one thing you didn't share with each other? The truth.
Thank you ReadersFirst and Pan Macmillan for my copy of this book