Book Review: The Personal Shopper by Carmen Reid
I am pleased to be welcoming Carmen Reid and the blog tour for her novel, The Personal Shopper.
Meet Annie Valentine: stylish, savvy, multi-tasker extraordinaire. As a personal shopper in a swanky London store, Annie can be relied on to solve everyone’s problems . . . except her own.
Because as a busy single mum to two kids, Annie’s realised there’s a gap in her life as well as her wardrobe. But with her heart still hurting from losing the love of her life, Annie’s discovered that finding the perfect partner is turning out to be so much trickier than finding the perfect pair of shoes!
Can she source a genuine classic? A lifelong investment? Or will Annie realise that her perfect man is already sitting on the front row of her life…
*****
Annie Valentine is stylish, savvy and great at her job, even if her boss thinks otherwise.
Being a single mother, she does the best she can.
What she is missing is a man.
Can she find the right one? Can he live up to the lost love of her life? Has the perfect love been in front of her all along?
The Personal Shopper was my introduction to Annie Valentine and to Carmen Reid. Although this book did take me a couple of chapters to get into, once I did, I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting.
This novel was a lot of fun but deals with sensitive themes well.
Annie feels like a real, relatable character. She has a need to be control and at work, she is. She’s straight talking and successful. However, due to past events, there is a vulnerable side to her that she tries to hide. This possibly leads to her making some questionable choices in her personal life.
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Book Extract: Brown Eyes by Frances Ive
I am pleased to be welcoming Frances Ive to Novel Kicks today with the blog tour for her book, Brown Eyes.
A watchful eye as a marriage falls apart. The phone call, the rows, and the split are all observed by the family Labrador. He knows the habits and senses the moods of his beloved family members. Seeing them unhappy and hurting each other is unbearable. Where did his perfect life go?
Her marriage to Phil in crisis, two children at the challenging teenage stage, and a close friend in peril, Meriel’s world is falling apart. She finds solace in the arms of another man, but is this the answer for her? It is her stubbornness that threatens the family’s future together, until a major loss has a life-changing effect on her. A sliver of hope returns.
Like a fly on the wall, Benji the dog sees it all.
Narrated by both the dog and Meriel, Brown Eyes is a novella (a short read) written by the author of Finding Jo and Give and Take with a Capital G & T.
Frances has shared an extract from Brown Eyes today. We hope you enjoy!
*****beginning of extract*****
Can a marriage be saved?
In many countries including the UK the divorce rate is very high – between one in two or three marriages ends in a split. Sometimes relationships break down because of extreme behaviour, but others are often just lacking communication and appreciation. The route from problems like infidelity to splitting up is sometimes very fast.
For those couples who seek couples counselling it can sometimes be avoided if both partners want it to work. Meriel and Phil were jogging along in their relationship when one of them strayed off the path. Almost immediately they were splitting up and the children and the family Labrador were distraught. Could therapy save their marriage?
Extract from the point of view of Jane, the counsellor. Starting with Phil speaking.
‘I didn’t think it happened quickly. I had liked Meriel for a long time, but she always seemed to be with a boyfriend. I used to wonder how we could get together, and so I just took a risk and rang her. And thank goodness, it worked.’
by Book Review: Unravelling by Helen Forbes
I am very happy to be welcoming Helen Forbes to Novel Kicks with the blog tour for her novel, Unravelling.
A forest of secrets
Two bodies are found buried in a Highland forest, a place that haunts the dreams of Kate Sharp. Her mother, Ellen, died when Kate was a child. Does the forest hold the secret to her death?
A secret journal
Kate discovers her mother’s journal, and the tale of a tragic unravelling begins to unfold. Ellen’s story is one of fear and hope, love and loss, set against the imposing background of Craig Dunain, a psychiatric hospital where she should have been safe.
Unravelling the truth
Someone else from Ellen’s past is searching for answers, and he will stop at nothing to find them. Unaware of the danger stalking her, Kate continues her search. Will she find the answers? And can she save her own life?
*****
Two bodies are found in a forest near to where Kate Sharp’s mother, Ellen, died years earlier, when Kate was a child.
Following the death of her Grandmother, Kate is searching for answers about her mother.
As Ellen’s story unfolds, Kate discovers it’s one of love, loss, fear, despair and hope.
Someone from Ellen’s past is also trying to find out what happened. Can they figure out the truth? Can Kate save her own life before it’s too late?
This is the first book I’ve read by Helen Forbes. I found the blurb very intriguing. I was excited to be invited onto the blog tour for Unravelling.
Told from the point of view of Kate, Ellen, Daniel and Jamie, this book, from page one, immediately drew me into the novel and into the lives of these characters.
Nothing is what it seems on the surface and, aside from Kate, I wasn’t sure who to trust.
by Book Review: The Cocktail Bar by Isabella May
A big hello to Isabella May. She joins me today with the blog tour for her book, The Cocktail Bar.
Rock star, River Jackson, is back in his hometown of Glastonbury to open a cocktail bar… and the locals aren’t impressed.
Seductive Georgina is proving too hot to handle; band mate, Angelic Alice, is messing with his heart and his head; his mum is a hippie-dippy liability; his school friends have resorted to violence – oh, and his band manager, Lennie, AND the media are on his trail.
But River is armed with a magical Mexican elixir which will change the lives of three lucky people. Once the Mexican wave of joy takes a hold of the town, he’s glad he didn’t lose his proverbial bottle.
Pity he hasn’t taken better care of the real one…
*****
Fed up with life on the road as a musician, River returns home to Glastonbury. His plan… to open up The Cocktail Bar and, thanks to an encounter with a mysterious woman named Mercedes, potentially change the lives of three people.
To begin with, the locals are not happy. Old school friends are trashing his bar, his ex manager is on his trail and the local aristocracy is up in arms.
There is also the matter of Georgina, a girl from his past. He is soon in a casual relationship with her. However, she has her own agenda and believes Karma is a dish served cold.
Things become even more complicated when Alice, his former bandmate, returns home. She also happens to be the girl that River is actually in love with.
Having previously read, Oh! What a Pavlova, I was looking forward to taking part in the blog tour for Isabella May’s latest novel, The Cocktail Bar.
Told from the point of view of River, Alice and Georgina, it did take me a couple of chapters to settle into the novel and connect with the characters. Once I did though, I couldn’t put it down.
River is an interesting man. Deep down, he is fiercely loyal to the people he loves, if not a little naive to the behaviour of some of the people around him. He, like many people, including Alice, is trying to find his place in the world and that is something many readers will be able to relate to.
I found Georgina an unlikeable character, even before you find out what she’s up to. However, she does add tension and conflict to the story. The same can be said for Lennie.
by Book Extract: The Helsingør Sewing Club by Ella Gyland
Ella Gyland joins me today with the blog tour for her novel, The Helsingør Sewing Club.
Inspired by the incredible true story of how the people of Denmark saved their Jewish neighbours during WW2
Helsingør, Denmark, 1943
In the midst of the German occupation during World War Two, Inger Bredahl joins the underground resistance and risks her life to save members of Denmark’s Jewish community and help them escape to Sweden.
Copenhagen, 2018
Inger’s granddaughter, Cecilie Lund, is mourning her death when a mysterious discovery while cleaning out Inger’s flat leads past and present to intersect. As long-held secrets finally see the light of day, Cecilie learns the story of her grandmother’s courage and bravery, and of the power of friendship, love, and standing for what’s right…even when you have everything to lose.
An inspiring tale of the resilience of the human spirit and the power of community.
Ella has shared an extract from The Helsingør Sewing Club with us today. Enjoy!
*****beginning of extract*****
The main character’s cousin Gudrun has just returned home from having dinner with her fiancé, Niels the fisherman, and his family, where the topic of conversation was whether to smuggle black market goods back from Sweden or not, with Niels strongly against it and his father in favour of it. This scene is from Gudrun’s point of view.
*****
When she returned home, her parents, Inger, and Jens were listening to Radio London in the parlour. She poured herself a cup of coffee from the blue enamel pot on the stove in the kitchen, and joined her family, squeezing onto the settee next to her brother.
Huddled around the radio, they listened to the news that the Russian army had recaptured a port city on the Black Sea from the Germans, and that the recently overthrown Italian dictator, Mussolini, had been restored to power.
Gudrun’s mind wasn’t really on the news. Instead she focused on the coffee substitute she was drinking. She’d almost, but not quite, got used to the taste of it – not like Inger who hated it – but knew Niels’s father had been right when he’d insisted people would pay for anything if they wanted it enough, and had the money.
At my wedding lunch we’re going to have proper coffee, she thought. Another reason for her and Niels to wait.
The calm, quiet mood in her parents’ parlour was interrupted by a sudden rap on the window at the front of the house. Jens quickly switched off the radio, and her mother draped an embroidered tablecloth over it. Listening to the radio wasn’t forbidden, but the Germans took a dim view of broadcasts from the BBC, and it was better to be safe than sorry in case they confiscated it.
Her father turned off the lights and opened the door, with Gudrun and his wife almost right behind him.
by Book Club
