Book Review: The Heart Warrior’s Mother by Marilyn Cohen de Villiers
I am pleased to be welcoming Marilyn Cohen de Villiers to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her book, The Heart Warrior’s Mother.
Kerry-Anne Aarons is over the moon. She and her husband, Imran Patel, are about to become the parents of a baby daughter, and give their son, Leo, an adored little sister. It wasn’t planned, but Kerry knows that Lily’s arrival will complete the perfect little family she has always wanted. She, Imran and their two children are going to live happily ever after…
Then life intervenes.
Lily is born with a serious congenital heart defect and Kerry’s battle to save her daughter commences. It’s a battle that takes her from the operating theatres and Intensive Care Units of local hospitals to the High Court of South Africa. It’s a battle that strains her relationships with her friends, her parents, and – ultimately – her husband. It’s a battle she is determined to win.
But how much will Kerry have to sacrifice to give Lily the future she deserves?
“A true, cross-generational story of the eternal link between love and pain… the greater the love, the more inevitable the pain. Marilyn Cohen de Villiers once again – with amazing skill – depicts the common humanity that transcends differing cultures.”
James Mitchell – former Book Editor, The Star, Johannesburg
A percentage of the proceeds of this novel will be donated to the Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa, an organisation that funds lifesaving heart surgery for children across the continent.
*****
This was not an easy book to read. It took me through a large rollercoaster of emotions and, I feel that, if you’ve lost a child, whether it be to miscarriage or illness post birth, be prepared as this novel deals with some very difficult issues.
It however does this with extreme sensitivity and knowledge. There was a feeling that the author had really researched her subject matter and this adds a lot to the novel. To also know that this was based on a true story makes it all the more heart breaking.
From the beginning, you really do feel for Kerry and Imran – to have to see a child going through so much from birth. I turned every page hoping that things would turn around – that everything will be ok.
by 
Book Review: The Island of Lost Girls by Alex Marwood
1985
For twelve-year-old Mercedes, La Kastellana is the place she calls home. It is an island untouched by the modern world, with deep-rooted traditions – though that is all about to change with the arrival of multimillionaire Matthew Meade and his spoiled young daughter, Tatiana. The Meades bring with them unimaginable wealth, but the price they will all pay is far darker than Mercedes and the islanders could ever have imagined.
2016
Robin is desperately searching for her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma, who has been missing for over a year. Finding herself on La Kastellana, the island playground of the international jet set, Robin is out of her depth. Nobody wants to help and Robin fears she is running out of time to find her child.
But someone has been watching, silently waiting for their moment to expose the dark truth and reveal to the world what really happens on the island of lost girls.
*****
It’s 1985.
Twelve-year-old Mercedes has known nothing but La Kastellana. This island is home, untouched by the modern world beyond.
That is until multi-millionaire Matthew Meade shows up with his spoiled, thirteen-year-old daughter, Tatiana.
It isn’t long before Mercedes and her family are tied to the Meades and Matthew’s influence runs deep.
2016.
Robin finds herself on La Kastellana in her search for her missing seventeen-year-old daughter, Gemma.
Surrounded by the rich, little help is given to Robin and she has a feeling she’s running out of time.
But someone is waiting to expose the truth about the Meades, however dark.
This was my introduction to Alex Marwood and from page one, I was hooked. Spilt across multiple points of view, the story goes between 1985 and 2016.
In 1985, Mercedes is a very sheltered girl who is used to growing up amongst her island’s traditions. So, when she meets self-assured Tatiana, she is thrown into a whole different world, one she is not prepared for.
by Book Extract: Twelve Nights by Penny Ingham
I am pleased to be welcoming Penny Ingham to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, Twelve Nights.
The Theatre
London, 1592
When a player is murdered, suspicion falls on the wardrobe mistress, Magdalen Bisset, because everyone knows poison is a woman’s weapon. The scandal-pamphlets vilify her. The coroner is convinced of her guilt.
Magdalen is innocent, although few are willing to help her prove it. Her much-loved grandmother is too old and sick. Will Shakespeare is benignly detached, and her friend Christopher Marlowe is wholly unreliable. Only one man offers his assistance, but dare she trust him when nothing about him rings true?
With just two weeks until the inquest, Magdalen ignores anonymous threats to ‘leave it be’, and delves into the dangerous underworld of a city seething with religious and racial tension. As time runs out, she must risk everything in her search for the true killer – for all other roads lead to the gallows.
Penny has shared an extract from Twelve Nights with us today. Enjoy!
*****beginning of extract*****
Thank you so much to Laura at Novel Kicks for letting me share my latest novel with her readers.
Twelve Nights is set in 1592, in the wild and glamourous heart of Elizabethan theatreland. When a player is murdered, suspicion falls on the wardrobe mistress, Magdalen Bisset, because everyone knows poison is a woman’s weapon.
Magdalen is innocent, although few are willing to help her prove it. Her much-loved grandmother is too old and sick. Will Shakespeare is benignly detached, and her friend Christopher Marlowe is wholly unreliable. Only one man offers his assistance – she is drawn to handsome Matthew Hilliard, but dare she trust him when nothing about him rings true?
With just two weeks until the inquest, Magdalen ignores anonymous threats to ‘leave it be’, and delves into the dangerous underworld of a city seething with religious and racial tension. As time runs out, she must risk everything in her search for the true killer – for all other roads lead to the gallows.
Here’s a sneak preview of the first few pages:
“John Wood looked very ill. A rivulet of sweat ran through his face paint, and his hand trembled as he straightened his long blond wig. Magdalen would have liked to ask what ailed him, but her lips were clamped around half a dozen tiny dressmaking pins. She shook her head, a silent plea for him to be still whilst she attached the sleeves to his gown.
A cacophony of frantic voices vied for her attention:
‘Where are my yellow stockings?’
‘Help me fasten my laces!’
‘I can’t find the cushions for Orsino’s palace!’
by Book Extract: Ember by Catherine Yardley
Welcome to Catherine Yardley. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, Ember.
A family torn apart by their father’s infidelity are forced to confront the past thirty years later. As Natalie’s younger sister, Amanda, prepares for marriage and impending motherhood, her plea for the family to reunite uncovers pent-up tension and animosity. Can they forget the past and become a family again?
Natalie’s life begins to unravel as their father starts to creep back into their lives and family tensions resurface, affecting her relationship with her boyfriend, Rob. Will the couple find their way back to each other, and can a family that has been torn apart ever heal their wounds?
Can you ever walk away from someone you love, or do some fires never die out?
Catherine has shared an extract with us today. Enjoy!
(Warning: Language.)
*****beginning of extract*****
Ember is a dual timeline novel about childhood trauma and how we carry it around with us. Natalie had a terrible childhood being a parent to her younger siblings. Her father broke up the family on Christmas day after an affair. It’s thirty years later and her younger sister is getting married and gets pregnant before her. Their father wants back into their lives. But every sibling remembers their childhood differently and Natalie is ganged up on by her siblings and father. She self destructs and leaves her loving boyfriend. Will she heal her wound and get her life back on track? Read Ember to find out.
That Moment
Rob
Watching Natalie drive off, leaving me on the side of the motorway, felt like an out-of-body experience. Had that really happened? Hell, what, had just happened? Looking around and almost expecting to wake up from a dream, it finally hits me and I snap.
‘That’s actually my fucking car!’
Out of all of the grand theft auto in history, this one has to be the most vicious. And original.
It feels like I have been walking along the motorway for days. Car headlights blind me. Everything is grey and dour. I keep going over every single detail about today. What could possibly have triggered such an extreme reaction? I cannot think of one thing I could have said to upset her. Never mind get dumped on the side of a motorway. We had not argued. The entire thing was such bullshit. It was just a pre-wedding get-together in the country. Partly to meet Neil’s family and partly to just have a get-together. Nothing happened. Nothing I can think of anyway.
by Book Review: The Billionaire Behind The Headlines by Rachael Stewart
I am pleased to be welcoming Rachael Stewart to Novel Kicks today and the blog tour for her novel, The Billionaire Behind the Headlines, released today by Mills and Boon True Love.
In Rachael Stewart’s latest Harlequin Romance, the second in her Claiming the Ferrington Empire duet, an invitation to Paris with a billionaire is on the cards, but only if Bree is brave enough to take it…
Can a playboy billionaire……capture her heart?
Bree has escaped the big city to heal her heart in a village bakery. But when notorious billionaire Theo walks through the door, emotionally guarded Bree discovers it’s not just her toffee pudding that’s hot and sweet! The man behind the headlines is charming but intriguingly cynical about love. Accepting his invitation to Paris could be a mistake—or the best decision she’s ever made…
*****
The Billionaire Behind The Headlines is the second novel in the Claiming the Ferrington Empire series. I have not read the first novel, Secrets Behind The Billionaire’s Return but that did not stop me from keeping up with what was going on.
Whilst the first in the series mostly focuses on Sebastian and Felicity, this novel has the former’s brother, Theo returning to the Yorkshire village of Elmdale.
His most recent breakup is not doing anything to help his playboy image but there is another reason for him returning to Yorkshire. He needs to make up his past failings toward his brother.
Bree, having escaped her London life three years previously is content to be working in her Aunt’s bakery. She was not counting on meeting sexy, charming Theo.
Having read very little Mills & Boon, to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this novel but I was very intrigued.
The chemistry between Bree and Theo is immediately evident and I loved the easy conversation that happened between the two of them. It slowly becomes obvious that Theo is more than the man the media portray him to be. As in real life, I think it’s easy to forget that these are real people being reported on, not just a concept without feelings and emotions and that what we read is not always a reliable snapshot.
by Book Club
