REVIEW: The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood

The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood

Genre: Historical fiction, WW2

Read: 21st May 2024

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Published: 14th May 2024

★★ 2 stars

DESCRIPTION:

The paper is stiff and brittle with age as Kate unfolds it with trembling hands. She gasps at the pencil sketch of a rippling waterway, lined by tall buildings, curving towards the dome of a cathedral. She feels a connection deep in her heart. Venice.

England, 1941. When Kate Arden discovers a secret stash of drawings hidden in the pages of an old volume of poetry given to her as a baby, her breath catches. All her life, she has felt like an outsider in her aristocratic adoptive family, who refuse to answer any questions about her past. But the drawings spark a forgotten memory: a long journey by boat… warm arms that held her tight, and then let go.

Could these pictures unlock the secret of who she is? Why her mother left her? With war raging around the continent, she will brave everything to find out…

A gripping, emotional historical novel of love and art that will captivate fans of The Venice Sketchbook, The Woman on the Bridge and The Nightingale.

MY THOUGHTS:

To fight for her future, she must solve the mystery of her past...

So this is my second read by Juliet Greenwood, my first having been "The Ferryman's Daughter" which I absolutely loved! Unfortunately, anything that followed had big shoes to fill in that respect and unfortunately, this one just didn't live up to my expectations. I really struggle with any story set in and around Italy and during the war. I can read them set in Britain, France or even Germany but for some reason I struggle with Italy. Maybe it's the language and pronunciations of places and names, I don't know, but then I would have that problem with Germany since I don't read German either. I don't know but I struggled with this story. Even moreso because it runs on from "The Shakespeare Sisters" which came before it and I haven't read. Although I do believe both books are standalones in themselves but they do feature some of the same characters. Namely the Ardens and Arden House.

This story however, was about Kate. She is something of a ring-in with the village with her olive complexion and jet black hair. She didn't look like the other Arden children and yet she was brought up alongside them as one of them. It is this that makes Kate always feel like the odd one out in the family. Kate has three sisters - Rosalind, Cordelia and Bianca - the first two having been banished by their father for some such slight as not accepting the hand of some local gentry which is pretty much a woman's lot. She also has two brothers Will and Jamie who are away fighting the enemy. But with her Italian looks, doesn't that make her an enemy also?

Kate works alongside the land girls digging for victory in their garden, growing vegetables to feed the nation and whatnot, when she unearths what appears to be an old Roman artefact. She takes it off to Miss Parsons, the local school teacher who also runs the museum, but Kate knows her brother Jamie will love the artefact. Miss Parsons however gives her a book of Shakespeare sonnets left to each of the girls by their late mother, looking for something that is to allude to her future. After much fruitless searching and Miss Parsons' encouragement not to give up, Kate comes across a collection of sketches which immediately brings back flashes of memories. A woman, a boat and learning to draw.

Kate is a talented artist but her father wouldn't allow her study art instead wanting her to marry well and keep Arden House in the family. But in these flashes of memories, she sees a woman who taught her to draw. Who is she? Is this her long lost mother?

Sofia Armstrong returns to Venice after twenty years just as the war has broken out in Europe. Her own mother has fled leaving her maid Magdalena. But Sofia is on a mission. She wants to find her daughter. The one who was stolen away from her two decades before and she has no idea where she is now. How will she find her?

We are taken on an emotion journey but it is rather long filled with unpronounceable names and I could visualise myself on the canals of Venice, sadly. The closest I could get was a 1980s Madonna dancing in a gondola, wearing a wedding dress and dipping beneath the bridges across the canal whilst singing "Like a Virgin".

Nevertheless, it is an engrossing read for one who is enraptured by the surroundings and the language but I felt something of a WiFi signal blocker preventing me from feeling all that the reader is meant to feel.

I would read her again, as I loved "The Ferryman's Daughter" so I know how the author can capture my heart. But this one was just not for me,

I would like to thank #JulietGreenwood, #Netgalley, #StormPublishing and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheSecretDaughterOfVenice in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Having worked in London for nearly ten years, Juliet now lives in a traditional Welsh cottage halfway between the romantic Isle of Anglesey and the mountains and ruined castles of Snowdonia.

After studying English at Lancaster University and King’s College, London, Juliet worked in a variety of jobs, from running a craft stall at Covent Garden Market to teaching English.

Juliet began writing seriously about ten years ago, after a severe viral illness left her with debilitating ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for years. Juliet always says that M.E. was the worst, and the best, thing that ever happened to her. On one hand, it sent her from being able to walk up mountains with ease to struggling to do the simplest of everyday tasks for more than a few minutes at a time. But on the other, it forced her to re-evaluate her life and her priorities. And it made her a writer.

Juliet is now well and back to dog walking and working on her beloved garden. As well as novels under her own name, Juliet writes stories and serials for magazines as ‘Heather Pardoe’.

When not writing, Juliet works on local oral history projects, helping older people tell their stories before they are lost forever. She also helps aspiring writers towards being published.

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REVIEW: Her Last Goodbye by Carla Kovach

Her Last Goodbye (DI Gina Harte #15) by Carla Kovach

Genre: Crime thriller, Crime fiction

Read: 17th May 2024

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Published: 17th May 2024

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Her small hands tremble and tears run down her cheeks. Shivering in the dark, damp storeroom, the little girl clutches her favourite toy dog. She cries out for help, but nobody answers. Her mother went missing last night and, as dawn breaks, there is still no sign of her.

Four-year-old Cleo shakes with fear as she tells the police that her mother, Darcie, was taken by a man on their way home last night. Darcie told Cleo to run and hide, and the last thing she saw was Darcie being pushed into the back of a car.

When police look into Darcie’s life, they discover a drunken argument with her best friend hours before she went missing, a dark figure seen loitering near where Cleo was found, and a recent assault allegation against a customer at Darcie’s work.

It seems like everyone around the young mother was keeping secrets, but Darcie had a dark secret of her own – one she hasn’t dared tell a soul.

Did Darcie’s deadly past finally catch up with her? And will she find the strength to fight for her life and keep her promise to return for her beloved daughter?

If you enjoy reading Angela Marsons, J M Dalgliesh and Mark Edwards then you’ll absolutely love this addictive page-turner.

MY THOUGHTS:

She thought she was safe...she was wrong...

Gina's back. This time with missing mother Darcie kidnapped in front of her four year old daughter Cleo. The little girl is able to describe in fairly good detail what happened but is scared the "bogeyman" will return for her. Then when a finger is found, Gina is resigned to the fact that this means there is another missing woman out there too.

Within a few days, soon after questioning her, Darcie's friend Shannon is abducted from outside her place of work with yet another finger to be found. And then an emaciated woman nearing death is found...and Gina is left wondering is this the other missing woman?

Nothing about this case makes sense to Gina and her team though they work tirelessly investigating the past and the present surrounding each of their victims and wondering how they are all linked. Can Gina find the person behind these abductions before they take another...or before someone dies?

Another great crime thriller from Carla Kovach in the Gina Harte series. I can't believe this is book 15! Where did that time go?

A multilayered story with great characters and a riveting plot. I had no idea who the villain was or how the prologue fitted into the present day crime. But this was another pageturner, to be sure.

I would like to thank #CarlaKovach, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #HerLastGoodbye in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Carla Kovach was born in Birmingham, UK and now resides in Redditch, Worcestershire. She started writing more seriously ten years ago after having flirted with musical theatre and occasional writing in her youth.

Since then she has written & produced several stage plays, has four self-published books, has acted in several independent films and is currently in the final stages of production of her feature horror film, Penny for the Guy.

She now writes full time as well as co-owning a film, photography & video production company located in the heart of Redditch town centre. 

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REVIEW: A New Doctor at Orchard Cottage Hospital by Lizzie Lane

A New Doctor at Orchard Cottage Hospital by Lizzie Lane

Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, Post WW1

Read: 19th May 2024

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Published: 23rd May 2024

★★★ 3 stars

DESCRIPTION:

A country town in need of a good Doctor, but will they accept her as one of their own?

Somerset, March 1930

Born in the workhouse and adopted by a former suffragette, Frances Brakespeare was encouraged from an early age to be strong, independent and to pursue a career as a doctor. The tragic loss of the love of her life in the Great War propels Frances to commit to her one true vocation.

Rebelling against the unfair treatment of female doctors Frances is dismissed from her London post and things continue to take a turn for the worse when Izzy, her benefactress dies and Frances finds herself homeless.

With no employment or roof over her head her future seems uncertain until she’s offered a residency at the Orchard Cottage Hospital in Norton Dene, Somerset. a town where quarrying and coal mining scar the land.

It’s a far cry from London and towns narrow minds are not so welcoming of a young, female Doctor, but she’s determined to win through.

At first sight the town seems quaintly old fashioned, a place where nothing much happens but there are secrets and sins bubbling beneath the surface plus a mystery she's determined to solve.

MY THOUGHTS:

Not everyone's happy to welcome her...

Beginning in 1900 at All Saints Workshouse in London, where babies were born to women who could barely feed themselves let alone a little one. On one such morning, six newborn babies were laid out swaddled in blankets that prevented them from moving as Isabelle Brakespeare paid a visit with one specific child in mind. The doctor and matron were oblivious to Izzy's intentions so when she asked which baby was Mary Baker's they were momentarily speechless. Indicating a small baby girl, the matron handed Izzy the child that was to grow up under Izzy's guardianship - as an independent woman wanting for nothing...and knowing what she wants. Matron didn't let on that Mary Baker had intended to return for her child...but then they all say that.

Some three decades later in 1930, Frances Brakspeare has just lost her mentor and guardian Izzy and the family's solicitors have issued Frances a letter asking her to vacate the family home that had been hers since Izzy brought her home 30 years ago. The home that Izzy had living rights until the end of her days but no one else. Now the family wants the house back.

Frances had been brought up by former suffragette Izzy to be a strong and independent woman with no need for a man. Although she was engaged during the Great War to the love of her life, she also lost him just months before the war ended thus paving the way for her to follow Izzy's dreams of her becoming a doctor. Now at 30, Frances passed at the top of her class but had been downgraded so as to not outshine her male counterparts and had been working at a London hospital the past few years. However, she was as outspoken as she was driven which thus lead to her dismissal from the hospital for failing to apologise to a male doctor whose arrogance was well known among the staff.

Then Frances saw a posting for a doctor at a cottage hospital in Somerset, a world away from the hustle and bustle of London. A village which she discovered needing dragging into the twentieth century in terms of attitudes and medical advances. Her appointment was not without acrimony to begin with but she soon warmed the hearts of even the coldest committee member. Well, except for Simon Grainger, son of the Brigadier who ran the local mine. It seemed he was dead against change of any kind unless he was implementing it.

Within the village of Norton Dene, Frances made friends with just about everyone from the first. The two nurses who worked alongside her at the hospital also working part time to keep house for her - Lucy Daniels and Nancy Skittings - her ladyship up at Orchard Manor and of course the vicar Gregory Sampson, who carried with him a secret.

Overall, the book was okay. Not one of Lizzie's best as I found it a little sluggish to start and bogged down with nothing much in between. I was excited to read it but it didn't live up to my expectations a some of her other series which I have enjoyed such as Coronation Close (of which I hope there will be more).

I'm not sure if I would read another in this series though I am interested to see what Frances' answer to a certain proposal will be. A woman who had confined herself to remain a spinster after her beloved Ralph's death in the Great War. 

I would like to thank #LizzieLane, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #ANewDoctorAtOrchardCottagehospital in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Lizzie Lane is a born and bred Bristolian who now lives in West Wiltshire with her partner, a wonderful garden and a lately acquired allotment. In the past she has bred dogs, kept horses, painted and made models from clay. (Nightly visit from the badger has smashed one).

Working jobs she's hated purely to keep a roof over her family’s head and a meal on the table, she then discovered writing. Encouraged by an American writer friend and when a time came there were no jobs and no other option, she took the plunge. She is now the author of over 50 books, a number of which have been bestsellers. As a Bristolian, many of her family worked in the cigarette and cigar factories, inspiring her new saga series The Tobacco Girls.

Up until six years ago her home (and that of her late husband) was a 46ft sailing yacht named Sarabande Serene, sailing into the Mediterranean. So besides being a successful author Lizzie can read navigation charts and react swiftly in a storm. 

Lizzie is now landlocked in a town close to the city of Bath. 

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REVIEW: Return to the Irish Boarding House by Sandy Taylor

Return to the Irish Boarding House (The Irish Boarding House #2) by Sandy Taylor

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 4th May 2024

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Published: 13th May 2024

★★★★★ 5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Mary Kate takes a deep breath as she stands outside 24 Merrion Square with its red front door and pretty rose garden. Grieving from her recent heartbreak, will returning to the Irish boarding house be the second chance she so desperately needs?

Dublin, 1956. When Mary Kate Ryan loses the love of her life, she’s not sure how she can keep going. Feeling completely lost, she allows her friend Moira Kent to persuade her to re-open the Boarding House for Single Ladies where she made so many memories and created a safe place for women who needed it. Now it’s Mary Kate who needs to start over…

As Mary Kate sits by the large bay window, with her little dog Guinness by her feet, she watches the residents of the house coming and going and realises there are others who need her help. Can Mary Kate and Moira uncover the mystery surrounding their new guest? And can they provide a home for two orphan sisters with nowhere to go?

Soon Mary Kate breathes new life into the boarding house and learns that family can be formed in all sorts of ways. Clever, kind Moira is like the sister she never had and Moira’s sweet, adopted ten-year-old daughter Abby means the world to both of them. And being back in Merrion Square brings Mary Kate the kind of laughter and joy that she never dreamed she’d experience again.

But when a devastating secret about Abby’s birth mother begins to unravel, it threatens to destroy the happiness of her patchwork family. Mary Kate must gather her strength to protect the future of the boarding house – and to stop darling Abby being taken from them.

Can Mary Kate keep the friends who have become her family safe? Or will her new-found happiness be torn apart?

An emotional, page-turning story of learning to live with grief, second chances, and the power of friendship. Perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe.

MY THOUGHTS:

Dublin, 1956

After two years of married bliss closely followed by heartbreak, Mary Kate leaves her little cottage in the Wicklow Hills and returns to 24 Merrion Square. Her little boarding house with it's bright red door painted so to remind her of her red letter days, as her grandfather had always told her. Kind, compassionate and generous to a fault, Mary Kate and her best friend Moira re-open the doors of the old boarding house, taking in the waifs and strays...and those who need a little help, a little love and a little kindness.

Mrs Lamb returns to her kitchens bringing with her Eliza, a child-like young woman, who runs the halls with young Abby, Moira's adopted daughter once a babe left on the doorstep one frozen morning. Together, they welcome all those that enter the bright red door. The first being "Banana", as Eliza took to calling her, a young woman searching for something or someone. Then came Emma, who was searching for her younger sister Nell who the sisters had shipped off to the Magdelene Laundries. Then came Cathy, a young woman hiding a secret she dare not tell and then Megan, a young Welsh woman on the run from something or someone. And then finally came Isobel, who stayed only for a short time but made wonderful friends and gained lifelong skills before moving into the house she inherited. And then of course there is Guinness who has been there from the beginning, found as a stray as the dilapidated old Georgian building was being renovated into the boarding house it became.

All of these women make he boarding house a home. Their love, their kindness, their laughter. Each of them brings something to the house unique to them. Just like those who have come and gone before them, but are never far away.

I loved this book as much as the first one and aside from the Epilogue at the end, I felt this could have continued as a series because I think the heartfelt warmth of this book and the first one would have made a wonderful series. But The Epilogue kind of ties everything up and life comes full circle by its end.

I laughed and cried along with everyone in these pages but none moreso than with the passing of dear Guinness, my own staffy statue named as such after reading of him in the first book. His passing is reflected on with sensitivity and love, and mentioned only  with the passing of time and with them dear Guinness. Naturally, I was balwing as I always am at the passing of a beloved dog. He was much loved and a very dear addition to the boarding house. I miss him already.

A delightful read that I devoured in one sitting. I shall miss everyone from Merrion Square.

I would like to thank #SandyTaylor, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #ReturnToTheIrishBoardingHouse in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Sandy Taylor grew up on a council estate near Brighton. There were no books in the house, so Sandy’s love of the written word was nurtured in the little local library. Leaving school at fifteen, Sandy worked in a series of factories before landing a job at Butlins in Minehead. This career change led her to becoming a singer, a stand up comic and eventually a playwright and novelist.

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REVIEW: A Safe Haven on Beamer Street by Sheila Riley

A Safe Haven on Beamer Street by Sheila Riley

Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas

Read: 3rd May 2024

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Published: 9th May 2024

★★★★★ 5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Liverpool 1924

Trapped in an abusive marriage to Lord Caraway with her beloved daughter Melissa, 24-year-old Lady Elodie Caraway knows she has to escape before her deepest and darkest secrets are revealed giving her husband every reason to seek his revenge. But time is of the essence, if she is to save herself and Melissa.

With the help of lifelong friend Aiden Newman, they swiftly leave Oakland Hall for a new life in Liverpool's docklands. On arrival, Elodie and Melissa are welcomed as lodgers by Molly Haywood’s family, Aiden's aunt – no questions are asked.

Changing her name, Ellie dreams of following in the footsteps of her ancestors, setting up an apothecary to help heal those less fortunate and soon Ellie’s talents are called upon to help Mary-Jane Everdine bring her unborn child safely into the world.

But is Ellie’s tragic past about to catch up with her? Can she save herself and her young daughter from the cruel hands of Lord Caraway?

The next thrilling instalment in Sheila Riley’s Beamer Street series.

MY THOUGHTS:

Beginning in 1915, Elodie Kirrin and her mother Deborah are well known in the Lancashire village of Lavender Green as herbal healers, or "wise women", as their mothers before them. Unable to afford doctors, villagers seek them for their remedies for all types of maladies. Even the big man himself, Lord Silas Caraway, has Deborah make up his tincture of laudanum despite the law preventing her from doing so. After all, as a high court judge, Lord Silas IS the law.

After the death of his wife Lady Felicia and baby son, Silas blamed Deborah and her witchy ways for their untimely deaths. But Lady Felicia was ill with childbed fever after delivering a stillborn child.

A year later, it's 1916 and Elodie has reached her sixteenth birthday. Her one true love Aiden Newman now 18 had just received his papers to go and fight for King and country. But this birthday was to be one Elodie would remember for all the wrong reasons. Instead of the lemon cake her mother had planned on baking for her birthday, she arrives home instead to her mother having apparently taken her life, her world crashing down. Lord Silas offers Elodie a lifeline - marry him and want for nothing. All she has to do is bear him the son and heir he so desires. Grieving for her mother and for Aiden now away fighting, Elodie believes she has nothing left...especially when she receives news that Aiden is missing presumed dead. What has she left to live for?

When 1924 comes round, after six long torturous years married to Lord Silas, Lady Elodie Caraway must make her escape. And so she finds herself on Beamer Street in the Liverpool docklands with her six year old daughter Melissa, and a far cry away from the life she knew in Lancashire and the stifling one she had married to Lord Silas. But here in the docklands, Silas would never think to look for her there. Here, at least, she's safe.

Soon she makes friends with residents Molly Hayward and Mary Jane Everdine. Even little Melissa is coming out of herself and loving having a 'big sister' in Molly's youngest daughter Bridie, who has taken Melissa under her wing. Despite being a newcomer, Elodie makes friends amongst the women and opens her own apocethary across the street where she makes up tinctures and treats maladies to the working class who cannot otherwise afford medical treatment. Life is good on Beamer Street. But Elodie is always looking over her shoulder in case Lord Silas should find her and punish her for leaving him, taking his anger out on Melissa more than likely for not being the son and heir he so desires.

It has been a couple of years since the first Beamer Street book, I had been wondering when another was on the horizon and this one was worth the wait. Although it is the second in the series, the story is standalone and can suffice as such but these sagas are always best enjoyed when one reads them all, aren't they?

The characters are all well developed. From the gossipy women of Beamer Street to dastardly Lord Silas, a character we definitely love to hate. The story as it unfolds displays the resilience of those of their time and I just enjoy revisiting the faces of Beamer Street once again.

I can't wait for book 3. Maybe the new family that pitched up at the end has a story to tell in that one. I look forward to the next one in any case.

I would like to thank #SheilaRiley, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #ASafeHavenOnBeamerStreet in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Sheila Riley sets her gritty family sagas around the River Mersey and its docklands. Born in Southport and raised not far from the river, she was a hairdresser for over thirty years before her love of writing encouraged her to put away the scissors and take up the pen. As a ghostwriter, she previously wrote four bestselling novels under the name Annie Groves, a pseudonym inherited from saga legend Penny Jordan.

Married to her knight in rusty armour, Tony, she has three grown-up children, five adored grandchildren, a majestic German Shepherd called Max and an insatiably energetic Siberian Husky called Louis and an ancient cat called Missy. 

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REVIEW: The Life Sentence by Jackie Kabler

The Life Sentence by Jackie Kabler

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 2nd May 2024

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Published: 9th May 2024

★★★ 3 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Convicted. Jailed. All for a crime that never even happened…

My name is Amber Ryan.

I’m in prison, but I’m innocent.

And I’ve been jailed not just for a crime I didn’t commit, but for a crime that never even happened.

Now, my friend is going to try to prove it.

But to do that, she has to go back.

Back to the dark place.

And I know she may not get out alive…

MY THOUGHTS:

Convicted. Jailed. All for a crime that never even happened...

I have read four of Jackie Kabler's previous psychological thrillers and have enjoyed all of them but this one I found a little underwhelming, despite the intriguing description. I struggled to immerse myself and fully believe what was unfolding, as engaging as it was. But I ploughed on to the end.

While the story centres around Amber Ryan being falsely accused, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, Heather is our main character here, going in to bat for her long time former friend Amber who now languishes inside an 8 foot cell. So why was Amber now in prison? And a life sentence? I probably would have believed it had the crime been something more substantial than a robbery and apparent stabbing. Nobody died. Injured, yes. Dead, no. So why the life sentence? That just didn't sit right with me.

The man at the centre of it all is Jack Shannon. Handsome, charismatic and charming. But a narcissistic, self indulgent, entitled grown man-child-brat. Heather had once been involved with Jack. A short-lived fling that she did well to escape. Then Amber, her long time friend, became involved with him...despite Heather's pleas of warning for her to disentangle herself from him. Amber accused her of being jealous and cut ties with her.

And now Heather is told by way of a third hand acquaintance in Felicity and her brother Nathan that Jack is responsible for Amber's incarceration. That he had methodically planned to frame her and have her jailed for the crimes he was setting her up for. Because the crime never actually happened and Amber is now in prison for something not only did she not do, but never even happened.

So between the three of them, they decide to uncover the truth and bring Jack to justice. Doable? Or are they stark staring mad? It's a dangerous mission, especially if Jack finds out their subterfuge.

At any rate, there is lots of action, red herrings and a few twists along the way that will keep you turning the pages, albeit a little disbelievingly, and guessing how it will all end. There are plenty of eye-rolling moments and the story is pretty far fetched even for the fictitious kind that suspending belief kind of stretches the elasticity of it.

However, despite its flaws and my issues with it, the plot is very easy to follow and fairly fast paced. And it is a decent enough read, even if it's not one of her best. Something to pass the time, at least.

I would like to thank #JackieKabler, #Netgalley, #OneMoreChapter and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheLifeSentence in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Jackie Kabler is a television presenter and crime writer.

A former news reporter, she spent more than nine years with GMTV as a roving correspondent and newsreader, covering some of the biggest stories of the decade including President Clinton’s impeachment trial, the Asian tsunami, the Kosovo crisis, famine in Ethiopia, the Athens Olympics, the Soham murders and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Jackie left GMTV to work as a freelance broadcaster in 2008. She became a regular presenter of the ITV national morning news and a reporter across ITN’s news programmes including News at Ten; a reporter and presenter on the BBC’s Midlands Today programme; presenter of property show Selfbuilder TV on Sky’s Information TV channel; and guested as a TV gardening expert. Her work also appeared on the BBC’s News Channel and on CNN.

She also worked as a media trainer and in media simulation – in particular with the armed forces – and produced, wrote and presented corporate and promotional films.

In January 2013 Jackie joined the UK’s biggest shopping channel, QVC, as a presenter.

A former newspaper reporter, she has also worked as a reporter and presenter for Channel TV, ITV West, Central TV, Five News and Setanta Sports News.

Jackie is also an internationally bestselling crime writer, author of the Cora Baxter Mysteries, a series of humorous murder mysteries set in a television room, and of psychological thrillers Am I Guilty? and The Perfect Couple. The Happy Family is her sixth book. 

Jackie lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.

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REVIEW: The Doctor's Child by Daniel Hurst

The Doctor's Child (The Doctor's Wife #4) by Daniel Hurst

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 30th April 2024

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Amazon

Published: 1st May 2024

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

DESCRIPTION:

The doctor is dead. Now his daughter wants revenge…

‘I’ll always protect you.’ These are the words my mother whispered to me every time she kissed me goodnight. And whenever we ventured outside our windswept seaside village, she’d clutch my hand tightly and her face would be pinched and pale. I never understood why. But now I do.

Growing up, I’d heard the whispers and the rumours. My mother tried to keep the truth from me, but she failed. I understand exactly what happened eighteen years ago. I know I am the murdered doctor’s child.

Everything could have been so different if the doctor’s wife hadn’t ruined my mother’s life – and mine too. We could’ve been a proper family, living in a big house with a stunning sea view. Instead, I never got to know my dad and my mother is a shadow of the person she once was, always looking over her shoulder…

Glancing at my fair hair and bright blue eyes in the mirror, I realise I’m just like my father. And it’s up to me to right the wrongs of the past.

They say the doctor’s wife is clever and calculating. That she gets away with murder. But she hasn’t met me yet…

From the number one bestselling author of The Doctor’s Wife, this is a totally gripping and page-turning psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the final jaw-dropping twist. If you love Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Housemaid, you’ll be hooked on The Doctor’s Child.

MY THOUGHTS:

The past can't stay hidden forever...the truth will always come out...

He's back! This time with the fourth and final book in The Doctor's Wife series, concluding the tale that has spanned some two decades. When we left off in the previous book "The Doctor's Mistress", Alice had been hell-bent on seeing Fern behind bars once and for all whilst battling her post natal depression after Evelyn's birth. But that chapter ended somewhat surprisingly when Alice let Fern go after saving her little girl's life on a Cornwall clifftop. And now they are all back...and Evelyn and Cecilia are now on the cusp on adulthood. So how does it all end? 

It's been eighteen years since Alice and Fern were last face to face. Now their daughters have grown and life hasn't quite turned out the way they may have expected it to. For Fern, life on the run has been fraught with danger and looking over her shoulder but her life took a surprising turn when she fell in love with Pierre, a doctor no less, and the couple married in a small and private ceremony in the little French village in which they lived. Her life has been quiet and near perfect but she is forever keeping watch to ensure her secrets stay buried and that her husband and daughter never find out the truth. 

But now Cecilia is about to turn 18 and is moving to Paris with her best friend Antoinette where the girls will live their best lives. Fern worries her daughter may be tempted to travel further afield and venture back to England and seek out her roots but Fern must do everything to ensure she never does that for fear that the truth will out.

While life has been kind to her arch enemy since their face-off eighteen years before, Alice has not been so lucky. Her daughter Evelyn has grown up with constant bullying over being the infamous doctor's child as everyone in Arberness knows who they are and their roles in the most famous story to happen in the northern village. Alice never hid the truth from her daughter and now Evelyn is making her mother pay for letting Fern go all those years ago. She cannot understand why she did and has never forgiven her for it. In the meantime, the man at the centre of where it all began - Doctor Drew Devlin - has risen in status to practically sainthood in his daughter's eyes, though she never knew him. And for that she blames Fern and her mother for letting her get away with it.

Now at 18, Evelyn has plans to travel Europe and cut herself off from her mother and hopefully make some friends along the way. Because life has been incredibly lonely in Arberness with no friends at all, not with everyone knowing exactly who you are. And as the day she leaves arrives, her answers to her mother's questions are monosyllabic at best and her impatience to get away evident.

But Evelyn finds her travels aren't all what she expected to be. She makes no new friends as everyone in the hostels are travelling together and have no need for a third wheel and her desire to seek out new experiences and new friends falls flat. Until she arrives in Paris. There she makes two new friends - Cecilia and Antoinette. And it's only a matter of time before the fireworks begin...

OK so this one was a little more predictable than the previous three and yet it still holds the Hurst factor throughout. It was always going to end some way or another, it was just a matter of when and how. It's like two trains on a collision course. You know what's going to happen and you wait with baited breath to see it play out in slow motion as the two collide, unable to stop it happening. As the reader, we know the full story and we watch as the truth is revealed to the unsuspecting passengers in Cecilia and Evelyn.

It was interesting to see how the two women's lives had played out in the two decades since they last met. Fern was actually likeable now. She'd built a life for herself and Cecilia, which is what Alice told her to do. On the other hand, Alice has had to live with the choice she made in letting Fern go because she saved her little girl that day. But no matter how much she tried explaining it to Evelyn, her daughter refused to understand why. Evelyn looked at what Fern took away from her with rose tinted glasses in that she robbed her of her father, one that was a philandering womaniser who was not a very nice man and who I doubt would have had much interest in a child he'd fathered with his mistress. Evelyn's attitude grated on me throughout and she behaved like a spoilt child in some instances, blaming her mother who had done everything to protect her. Whilst Cecilia, on the other hand, lived a charmed life in France in total oblivion to her own mother's past crimes.

This tale is one of redemption as the story comes full circle with even something of a sad end in the case of one of the characters I had come to love in previous books. I do hope this is the last in the series as I believe the story has gone as far as it could go and really it has come full circle anyway.

THE DOCTOR'S CHILD can be read as a standalone but I do recommend that you read the series in order to appreciate the story in its entirety from the start.

1. The Doctor's Wife

2. The Doctor's Widow

3. The Doctor's Mistress

4. The Doctor's Child

Another stellar read from Daniel Hurst, unfolding through the various narratives and timelines to paint a fuller picture for the reader as only Hurst does.

I would like to thank #DanielHurst, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDoctorsChild in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Daniel Hurst was born in the northwest of England, a part of the world famous for its comedians, pasties and terrible weather.

He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.

Daniel writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.

Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021. The Doctor's Wife is his first publication with Bookouture.

A prolific writer, Daniel likes to keep readers on their toes by self publishing even more books in between those released through his publisher.

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REVIEW: The Divorce Lawyer by Ellie Monago

The Divorce Lawyer by Ellie Monago

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 2nd May 2024

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 10th May 2024

★★ 2 stars

DESCRIPTION:

I am helping to destroy a woman’s life. I know my client is lying. But if I don’t play along, it will be my own life on the line…

I’ve worked so hard to be the lawyer I am today. Helping as many women as I can—including my sister—escape toxic marriages makes it all worth it.

But as I stand in the courtroom, listening to this poor woman break down sobbing, my stomach twists. I can’t look. Her husband says she can’t be trusted. Her child is about to be taken away from her. And it’s all my fault.

Because she is not my client. Her husband is.

Peter is everything I fought against for years: a rich and powerful man who will do anything to get what he wants. I would have never represented him. If I’d had a choice.

But what could I do after Peter knocked at my door, and said he knew everything about me? And how far will I have to go to protect my secrets and my family?

An unputdownable and completely addictive psychological thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists, that will keep you turning the pages until the very end! Fans of Freida McFadden, The Perfect Marriage, and Valerie Keogh will love this pulse-racing novel.

MY THOUGHTS:

We meet up with Esther Khan once again after the previous book "The Custody Battle" in which she was the main character's divorce lawyer. Esther has always prided herself on fighting for the rights of women who find themselves victims to men who are little more than bullies. But this time she is fighting for her life. This time she is blackmailed into representing the bully himself - Peter Tramboni. And she hates herself for who she's turning into as Tramboni's minion...because that's essentially what she's become.

Soon after winning his custody case in which he gained full custody of his four year old son Stride (who calls their child Stride?) and a party to top all parties to celebrate his illustrious win, Tramboni is then murdered...and Esther becomes prime suspect.

Added to th mix is Peter's protege Avery who coded and created new technology Sleight (as in sleight of hand "now you see it, now you don't") in which messages can be sent and disappear and where the messages can be read out loud even if the recipient doesn't have the app. The technology seems to be highly invasive and it isn't long before Avery herself falls victim to foul play. And once again, Esther becomes the suspect.

When the reveal does come, it's not as jaw-dropping as it is eye-rolling and head shaking as unfathomable bordering on ridiculous. I certainly didn't enjoy this one as much as the first book, which I found myself struggling with at times too. But this one was bogged down with a lot of tech talk, stupid decisions and unlikeable characters with a plot that just seemed to drone on from beginning to end. I liked Esther far more in the first book as Madeleine's divorce lawyer and thought we would get more of that...but no. This was a let down and a disappointing one at that.

I found this tale to be decidedly dark and depressing and not in an interesting or riveting way.

I would like to thank #EllieMonago, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDivorceLawyer in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Ellie Monago is the pen name of an acclaimed novelist and practicing therapist. She’s also a wife and mother, and when you add it all up, she doesn’t wind up with much time for hobbies. But she’s an avid tennis fan, a passionate reader of both fiction and nonfiction—especially memoir (nothing’s as juicy as the truth!)—and she relishes a good craft cocktail.

REVIEW: Lies Never Die by Mark Hurst

Lies Never Die (The Lies #2) by Mark Hurst

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 1st May 2024

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 2nd December 2023

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

In the sequel to ‘The Lies’, Samantha and Blade continue playing the game of truth versus lie, reality against perception.

Dame Samantha Walsh, now a world icon, a person of respect, wealth and charity, flawless and untouchable in equal measure, continues to grow her empire on her terms. Her enormous wealth and reach bring about power and control never before contemplated, opening up new interests and outcomes for her, both inside and outside legal and moral boundaries.

Blade, recently released from prison, needing to re-integrate with society, has his path to follow to find the truth. He needs work, he needs income, and what better way to fund finding the truth than by taking paid work doing what he is good at, what he was trained to do?

The race is on to find out the truth of what happened to their loved ones. Who will find out first, who will win?

Fast paced and gripping, ‘Lies Never Die’ is the sequel to the bestselling debut book ‘The Lies’ from crime and psychological thriller author Mark Hurst.

MY THOUGHTS:

Truth versus lie...reality versus perception...

Having thoroughly enjoyed "The Lies" I was eager to dive into this sequel although it is a little more far fetched. It's still enjoyable and fast paced But I felt it lacked something the first one had...though I can't quite put my finger on it. Having said that, I did devour this book in one sitting and the climax was explosive!

Samantha is just as unlikeable as ever but this time round we follow a new predator in Blade as he seeks the truth about what happened to his friend David. As usual, this tale sweeps around the globe at lightning speed following Samantha and her various engagements. She has since been given the title of "Dame" but she is as manipulative and as brutal as ever. Nothing gets past her though I wish for once it would.

We spend a good deal of time in Australia once again, journeying from Cairns in far north Queensland to Darwin in the Northern Territory before jetsetting back to the UK once again.

There isn't a lot I can say about the plot without giving anything away and I think it is best experienced first hand. And while it suffices as a standalone I do recommend reading "The Lies" first to fully appreciate what is at play here.

My favourite scene would have to be the stand-off at Stirling Castle, as the players left standing wonder who to trust. And while the ending is a little loosely tied up, I think it wrapped things up nicely albeit ambiguously, though it is still clear who ended up with the upper hand. Nicely played and I think is best left there.

An enjoyable fast paced psychological thriller by newcomer Mark Hurst, father to prolific psychological thriller writer Daniel. But don't be fooled into thinking "like father, like son". Their writing styles are completely different.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Born and raised in Bolton, UK, a true Lancastrian and a child of the sixties, Mark finally decided to pursue his passion for storytelling after a long and eventful career in a completely different industry, that sometimes involved more fiction than fact!

He entered construction at the age of 18 and has been involved with hundreds of large civil engineering projects for the last 40 years as a Civil Engineer and Surveyor, Estimator and Commercial Director, working in various far flung locations such as Hong Kong, Scandinavia and Wigan.

Mark has a passion for reading legal, crime and psychological thrillers; he often claims he can predict the end to a story … and when he gets it wrong, he’s pleasantly surprised. He also enjoys first hand accounts of military and espionage events and when he’s not reading and writing, he can be found watching the History Channel.

Married with two grown children and four grandchildren, his son Daniel convinced him it was time to start committing some of his own stories to print … and there are a few.  Drawing on his own life experiences, Mark weaves them into his stories but with a twist … it all could have happened.

Why Wooded Hill Books?

The origin of the surname Hurst – ancient Anglo-Saxon topographic name for someone who lived near a wooded hill or thicket.

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