Category Archives: Family

The Woman at 72 Derry Lane by @HappyMrsH #ContemporaryFiction #Family #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Family by

51KQ4xFjr8LAuthor: Carmel Harrington

Performed by Aoife McMahon

Published: HarperCollins and released on Audible in 2017

Category: Contemporary Fiction, Family, Abuse

four-half-stars

On a leafy suburban street in Dublin, beautiful, poised Stella Greene lives with her successful husband, Matt. The perfect couple in every way, Stella appears to have it all. Next door, at number 72 however, lives Rea Brady. Gruff, bad-tempered and rarely seen besides the twitching of her net curtains, rumour has it she’s lost it all…including her marbles if you believe the neighbourhood gossip.

Neighbours Rea and Stella couldn’t be more different and the public perception of them couldn’t be more wrong. They were both suffering in silence. To all outward appearances, Stella had a perfect life with her handsome husband, Matt, but the reality was quite different. Stella was trapped. She’d fallen in love with the wrong man and had no-one to turn to.

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Making Waves at Penvennan Cove (The Penvennan Cove series Book 2) by @LinnBHalton #BookReview #NetGalley #ContemporaryRomanticFiction @Aria_Fiction

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Family, Romance by

810kmLwHCCS.Author: Linn B. Halton

Published: October 2021 by Aria

Category: Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Book Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For once, things are going well for thirty-year-old Kerra Shaw. She has a fulfilling job helping small businesses in the local community, she is within a few minutes’ walk of all the people she loves best, and most importantly, she has finally got together with her childhood sweetheart, Ross.

Yet again, I’ve read a book not realising it was part of a series, although it didn’t strike me as such at the time so I didn’t feel I was missing anything. Enough information is given by various means to give just enough background on the characters and their lives.

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The Lion Tamer Who Lost by @LouiseWriter ~ Be Careful What You Wish For… #ContemporaryFiction @OrendaBooks #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Family, Gay Romance, Love Story by

Author: Louise Beech

Published: September 2018 by Orenda Books

Category: Contemporary Gay Fiction, Romance, Book Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Long ago Andrew made a childhood wish. One he has always kept in a silver box with a too-big lid that falls off. When it finally comes true, he wishes it hadn’t…

Long ago Ben dreamed of going to Africa to volunteer at a lion reserve. When he finally goes there, it isn’t for the reasons he imagined…

Ben is fulfilling a long held dream, and a promise he made years ago, although he never could have envisaged the circumstances that finally brought the dream to reality. Nevertheless here he is, a volunteer at the Liberty Lion Rehabilitation Project in Zimbabwe and it seems he isn’t the only one escaping from love and life.   

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The Child (Kate Waters #2) by Fiona Barton ~ You Can’t Hide the Truth #ContemporaryFiction #FamilyDrama @figbarton

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Drama, Family by

Author: Fiona Barton

Narrated by Clare Corbett, Adjoa Andoh, Finty Williams, Fenella Woolgar, Steven Pacey

Release Date: June 2017. Published by Transworld Digital

Category: Crime, Drama, Audiobook, Contemporary Fiction, Book Review

When a paragraph in an evening newspaper reveals a decades-old tragedy, most readers barely give it a glance. But for three strangers it’s impossible to ignore.

For one woman, it’s a reminder of the worst thing that ever happened to her.

For another, it reveals the dangerous possibility that her darkest secret is about to be discovered. And for the third, a journalist, it’s the first clue in a hunt to uncover the truth.

The Child’s story will be told.

Told from four perspectives—Angela, Kate, Jude and Emma—The Child is an intriguing tale.

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The Space Between Time by Charlie Laidlaw ~ Second Chances are Often in Unexpected Places @claidlawauthor @AccentPress

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Drama, Family, Fiction by

Author: Charlie Laidlaw

Due to be published on 20th June 2019 by Accent Press

Category: Contemporary, Fiction, Family Drama, Book Review

There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on Earth…

Emma Maria Rossini appears to be the luckiest girl in the world. She’s the daughter of a beautiful and loving mother, and her father is one of the most famous film actors of his generation. She’s also the granddaughter of a rather eccentric and obscure Italian astrophysicist.

Emma Rossini lives what most people would consider a charmed life. However, appearances can be deceptive. When Emma’s actor father Paul Ross, becomes, as Emma herself puts it, ‘properly famous’ he moves the family out of their familiar, large flat in Edinburgh to a run down mansion in North Berwick, a seaside town just outside Edinburgh. 

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The Better Son by Katherine Johnson ~ Australian #FamilyDrama @KJohnsonauthor #FridayReads

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Drama, Family by

Author: Katherine Johnson

Performed by Steve Shanahan

Released: May 2019 by Wavesound Audiobooks

Category: Historical Fiction, Family Drama, Audiobook, Book Review

1952. Tasmania. The beautiful green, rolling hills of the dairy town Mole Creek have a dark underside — a labyrinthine underworld of tunnels that stretch for countless miles, caverns the size of cathedrals and underground rivers that flood after heavy rain. The caves are dangerous places, forbidden to children. But this is Tasmania — an island at the end of the earth. Here, rules are made to be broken.

In the summer of 1952 brothers Tommy and Kip were growing up in Mole Creek, Tasmania, on a dairy farm. Harold, their father, had returned from the war a changed man, prone to explosive rages and Kip bore the brunt of his father’s temper, which would sometimes erupt into violence.

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Run Away By @HarlanCoben ~ Suspense/Thriller #BookReview Family Drama #TuesdayBookBlog #NetGalley #RunAway

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary, Crime, Drama, Family, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller by

Author: Harlan Coben

Published: March 2019 by Cornerstone Digital

Category: Suspense, Thriller, Family Drama, Book Review

You’ve lost your daughter.

She’s addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want to be found. Then, by chance, you see her playing guitar in Central Park. But she’s not the girl you remember. This woman is living on the edge, frightened, and clearly in trouble. You don’t stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home.

She runs. 

As Simon Greene sits the Strawberry Fields area of Central Park watching the ‘street musician’ give her rendition of Penny Lane, memories of happier times when his children were younger are running through his head.

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Perfect Daughter by @MrsAmandaProwse ~ Contemporary Family Drama #BookReview #FridayReads

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Drama, Family by

Author: Amanda Prowse

Published: July 2015 by Head of Zeus

Category: Family Drama, Contemporary Fiction, Book Review

Once upon a time, Jacks Morgan had dreams.

She would have a career and travel the world. She would own a house on the beach, and spend long nights with her boyfriend strolling under the stars.

But life had other ideas. First Martha came along, then Jonty. Then her mother moved in, and now their little terrace is bursting at the seams.

Jacks gave up on her dreams to look after her family. If only, just for once, her family would look after her…

Jacks Davies’ life hasn’t turned out the way she’d envisaged.

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Sadie by Courtney Summers ~ A Journey of Revenge #YA Audiobook @MacmillanAudio @courtney_s #FridayReads

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Crime, Family, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Young Adult Fiction by

Author: Courtney Summers

Narrated by a Full Cast

Published by Macmillan Audio

Category: Young Adult, Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Family, Social, Audiobook, Review

A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. And an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about.

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

Since their addict mother Claire left, Sadie has been trying her best to raise Mattie, the little sister she loves dearly. Sadie and her mother have always had a volatile relationship, not helped by the severe stutter that’s afflicted her since childhood and her mother’s many live in boyfriends.

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The Lost Man by @janeharperautho ~ #Mystery set in the Australian Outback @caolinndouglas @LittleBrownUK #TheLostMan

Posted in Australian Fiction, Blog Tour, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Drama, Family, Murder, Mystery by

I’m delighted to be joining the blog tour for The Lost Man by Jane Harper, courtesy of Caolinn Douglas and Little, Brown Books.

About the Book

He had started to remove his clothes as logic had deserted him, and his skin was cracked. Whatever had been going through Cameron’s mind when he was alive, he didn’t look peaceful in death.

Two brothers meet at the remote border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of the outback. In an isolated part of Australia, they are each other’s nearest neighbour, their homes hours apart.

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old that no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish.

Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he choose to walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

My Review

The Outback is a harsh, vast and sparsely populated area with a brutal and unrelenting climate. It’s a hard life and the nearest neighbour could be hours away by car.

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