REVIEW: Childhood Sweetheart by Wendy Clarke

Childhood Sweetheart by Wendy Clarke

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 3rd September 2022

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 23rd August 2022

★★★ 3 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Bang. Bang. Bang. I jump as the knocks on the window crash above the roaring wind outside. Who could it be, at this late hour? I open the curtains and peer outside. ‘Hello?’ But the dark, the rain and the empty lane are all I see.

I thought I'd love him forever. But I should never have trusted him. And I have nowhere to hide.

It’s been eleven years since I last saw Jonah, after his brother died that stormy summer night. And now, without warning, he’s back, living in his old house next door just like old times, on the remote Scottish island that is home. Where I used to imagine we’d stay, together, forever, sharing our lives and our secrets as we always had. But that was before.

Jonah’s not the sweet boy I once knew. His mood is changeable, his behaviour unstable, our brief conversations are forced and awkward. And then the knocks on my window begin. It can only be him, but why, and what does he want? I used to love him. Now I don’t even want to invite him in.

Because after all these years, I see our childhood secrets, the ones we swore never to reveal, in a newly terrifying light. Was his brother’s death truly an accident? Could Jonah’s secrets have been worth killing for? And how safe am I now, on this isolated island, with the man I used to love…?

A totally addictive and twisty psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Housemaid won’t beable to put Childhood Sweetheart down!

MY THOUGHTS:

"You can’t forget your first love…Maybe you should…"

CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART is an atmospheric psychological thriller set on the remote Hebridean island Bray on the North West coast Scotland. The setting was chilling to the point of below freezing, so disturbing it was. And for that alone is probably the reason I stuck with it. I'll be honest, this book is a slow burn that wasn't as glacial as some but it was very slow and confusing at times. It did marginally get better but by then I had already figured out the big reveal that had been blindingly obvious to me. But in all fairness, I was relatively absorbed and engaged enough throughout to keep reading till the end.

The prologue at the beginning was thoroughly confusing and I found it made more sense after I had finished the book and then I went back and re-read it. Only then did it make any kind of sense. Before that, it was so vague and obscure I had no idea what to make of it.

Fast forward eleven years after that, Ailsa and her 10 year old autistic son Kyle live in one of the small cottages of Loch Briona Lodges, the holiday lets owned by Moira Wallace for whom Ailsa works, just as her mother before her. Growing up on Loch Briona, Ailsa's best friend had been Moira's son Jonah, with whom she'd secretly been in love. She'd hoped for so long that her feelings would be reciprocated but when Jonah's brother Callum was tragically killed in a boating accident, Jonah blamed himself and left the island soon after Callum's funeral, never to be seen again. Until now.

Moira is turning sixty and it is her greatest wish that her only surviving son return to the fold to celebrate with just her, Ailsa and Kyle. But the Jonah that returns is not the same Jonah from eleven years ago. He's gruff, weathered and extremely bitter. He continues to blame himself for his brother's death, never moving beyond that one iconic moment in his life. From the moment he arrives at Loch Briona he makes it clear he is here just for a couple of days. He has no wish to relive the glory days or stay there a moment longer than he needs to. 

It is clear to both Moira and Ailsa that Jonah continues to suffer great emotional pain that is all consuming to the point it has changed the young man they both once knew. He is a different man now. And he brings with him a secret that has haunted him every day of his life since. But then Moira shocks them at her birthday dinner with an announcement that changes everything.

Over the course of the ensuing days, long buried memories return to the surface bringing with them the pain each of them has suffered since. And since Jonah's return, memories of Callum and their father Hugh run rampant for each of them. Through chapters that take the reader back to the past, we see the relationship between the two brothers and their vast differences like night and day. Jonah was kind and sensitive while Callum was aggressive and a bully like their father. But then Callum died and Jonah was devastated by the loss, blaming himself and fleeing Loch Briona and any memories the place held for him.

But Jonah is not the only one with secrets, with Moira and Ailsa harbouring secrets of their own also. But is now the right time to bring any of them to light and what will be the repercussions should they do? Then just when we think there are no more secrets, Moira imparts a parting secret to Ailsa that has the power to change everything. But who out of them all, has the biggest secret of all? And whose secret could do the most damage?

CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART is an absorbing read that is atmospheric and chilling but it is incredibly slow going. It doesn't just start slow, it remains slow throughout. But the story was enough to hold my attention till the end. But only just. I did enjoy the past timeline that was cleverly interwoven with the present day story but my favourite part that touched me the most was the final lines which brought tears to my eyes...

"He'll say nothing because the girl doesn't want him to...and because he hasn't forgotten what he saw through the window of his caravan all those years ago.

A boy. A girl.

A random act of kindness to his beloved dog.

For him, it's enough."

Overall, CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART is an interesting tale filled with secrets, lies and a few surprises. Fans of slow burns and atmospheric reads will delight in this one.

I would like to thank #WendyClarke, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #ChildhoodSweetheart in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Wendy Clarke was a teacher until the small primary school where she worked closed down. Now she is a writer of psychological suspense but is also well known for her short stories and serials which regularly appear in national women’s magazines.

Wendy has two children and three step-children and lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex. When not writing, she is usually indulging in her passion for dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

Social Media links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

PUBLISHER:

Stay up to date with upcoming releases from Bookouture by following them on these social media accounts.

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

REVIEW: His Hidden Wife by Wendy Clarke

His Hidden Wife by Wendy Clarke

Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller

Read: 2nd February 2021

Goodreads

Amazon

Apple

Google

Kobo

Published: 4th February 2021

★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)

DESCRIPTION:

The first time you see them, out for an evening walk on the cliffs, you’ll think they’re the perfect family. You’ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughter’s hand. But you have no idea what’s really happening in their house…

If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife.

You might notice that the woman doesn’t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesn’t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if that’s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck.

When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, you’ll question whether it was really an accident at all.

And when the husband starts dating someone new – a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife – will you say something this time?

Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.

A thrilling and twisty tale, His Hidden Wife will keep you up all night, desperate to race through to its final conclusion. Readers of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.

MY REVIEW:

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Wendy Clarke's latest psychological thriller HIS HIDDEN WIFE.

Throughout this book I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not, despite not being able to put it down...lol There was something engaging in the plot that just made you want to keep reading but I'm not sure what it was. Is it the underlying mystery of what happened to Maya's mother? Is it the sinister feel that shrouds you as the fog on the Dorset clifftop? Or is it that everyone is hiding a secret you simply have to uncover? Whatever it is, it makes HIS HIDDEN WIFE an intense and addictive read.

The story centres around behavioural psychologist Stephen and his 18 year old daughter Maya who was just six when she witnessed her mother plunge to her death from the cliffs behind their house. Her memories are understandable sporadic from her childhood but the father and daughter are incredibly close and Stephen has never failed to let Maya know how much her mother loved her. Every night, instead of a storybook that most children go to bed with, Stephen would open the photo album and tell Maya stories of her mother before she was born and when she was growing up. So Maya has always known how much her mother loved her.

But life at Crewel House hasn't always been rosy. Since her mother's death twelve years before, Maya has witnessed the dark moods that envelops her father. The times when he would shut himself away in his room, he won't eat, he won't talk to her...just lay in the dark until those moods subside. She also recalls a time, not long after her mother died, when she discovered him standing before a desk lined with tablets of all kinds. She was too younger to understand at the time, but she now realises her father must have been in the depths of despair after losing her mother that he felt he couldn't live without her. 

Maya has always worried about her father, which is why she didn't go to university to study medicine as she had always wanted to. Instead she stayed behind and took up a job as a care assistant at Three Elms, a care home that specialised in those with dementia. Maya loves her job and her patients. But it's when she comes home that she dreads finding her father in one of his dark moods. She must protect him from the past and from himself.

Then one day, Stephen announces he has met someone. And suddenly Maya fears that she will not be able to protect him with the presence of another. But it is when he brings his new girlfriend Amy home and introduces her that Maya is shocked. Amy is not only half his age but is the spitting image of her mother, with her soft dark hair and big blue eyes. Maya starts to feel uneasy as this rather odd coincidence begins to stir up a lot of questions. Her father has always refused to talk of her mother's death - why? She has no recollection of seeing her mother fall and yet she was found at the top of the cliff - but why won't her father tell her what she possibly saw? And then there are the whispers in the village about the arguments her parents used to have, but her father always told her how happy they were - is this a lie? But it's when he sees the bruises on Amy's arms that she has covered that Maya really begins to question how well she knows her father. She knows she has been keeping secrets from her and is determined to find out what they are.

Was her mother's death a tragic accident? Was it suicide? Or was it something far more sinister?

But these questions and the memories that are beginning to surface from the past confuse Maya. And so she seeks refuge in Teresa, another therapist in her father's Wellbeing Clinic, knowing that whatever she discusses with her will  remain confidential. But the questions she raises in her sessions Teresa quickly debunks, offering plausible explanations. If I were Maya, I'd be thoroughly confused!

We meet Teresa in the beginning as her chapters alternate with Maya's. It is clear from the beginning that she has a crush on Stephen, despite being married herself, although her marriage is not a happy one. Teresa has known Stephen since university but parted ways many years before. When he set up the Clinic he contacted Teresa and asked her if she would be interested in joining. 

Teresa's story is a sad one. After confiding in Stephen about her marriage, he offers her the cottage he keeps for holiday rentals for both her and her teenage son Dale. And then there is her mother who has dementia and is proving to be unable to remain at home, particularly after she receives a call to say she has had a break-in and yet nothing was taken. Teresa moves her mother into the cottage with her until she can find something more permanent for her. It's then she remembers Maya working at Three Elms. 

Although Teresa's is a side story to the main one revolving around Maya, Stephen and Amy, it is also integral to the bigger picture. Particularly when Maya comes to Teresa for therapy. Why is it that Teresa is so quick to dismiss Maya's concerns about her father? Is it her desire to protect Stephen due to her feelings for him? Or is it something more sinister? Does she know more than she is letting on?

HIS HIDDEN WIFE is certainly unpredictable as I didn't see the twist coming until right before it was revealed. But more than than, it is an emotional tale that focused on the power of memories - how they define us, how they shape us, how they can change over time and how they blend into our present.

A well written tightly told plot, HIS HIDDEN WIFE has a bit of everything throw in - secrets, lies, deception, manipulation, gaslighting, threats and murder...or was it suicide? Everyone has secrets to hide and no one is to be trusted. Even Maya and Teresa are unreliable narrators due to Maya's confused memories and Teresa's blindness towards Stephen. Neither can relate the truth as they are unable to see it. Which makes HIS HIDDEN WIFE a somewhat clever tale.

I won't lie, HIS HIDDEN WIFE is a slow burn but there is something underlying that just makes you want to keep reading. It is compelling and compulsive and makes for addictive reading. The ending, I felt, was a little anti-climatic but that's just personal opinion. The book is still an enjoyable read.

Recommended for fans of psychological and domestic thrillers with a creepy undertone.

I would like to thank #WendyClarke, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #HisHiddenWife in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Wendy Clarke was a teacher until the small primary school where she worked closed down. Now she is a writer of psychological suspense but is also well known for her short stories and serials which regularly appear in national women’s magazines.

Wendy has two children and three step-children and lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex. When not writing, she is usually indulging in her passion for dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

Social Media links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

PUBLISHER:

Stay up to date with upcoming releases from Bookouture by following them on these social media accounts.

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

 

REVIEW: The Bride by Wendy Clarke

 

The Bride by Wendy Clarke

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 8th November 2020

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 20th May 2020

★★ 2.5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

The moment Joanna told me she was engaged, I had this awful feeling that something was wrong.

We used to speak on the phone every day. Growing up I spent more time at her house than I did at my own. I’d always imagined what it would be like to see her get married, and now I didn’t even know her fiancé’s name.

She asked me to come and meet Mark and I intended to tell her to slow down. You can’t know someone for a month and be sure that you want to spend the rest of your lives together.

When I got to Joanna’s front door, only Mark was there. He was charming and gorgeous and nothing but nice to me, and I started to understand.

And then he told me that Joanna was missing.

MY REVIEW:

I like a good psychological thriller as much as anyone, particularly one that keeps me engaged from beginning to end with a thrill ride of emotions. However, THE BRIDE just didn't do that for me. I wanted to like it, I wanted to enjoy the ride, but it was a bit like driving Miss Daisy on a road to nowhere.

Alice has just come out of a relationship with the man she had planned to marry when she receives a text out of the blue from her childhood best friend Joanna announcing she has just got engaged and inviting her to come and meet her fiance. When? How about Saturday? OK, I'll be there! Now Alice hasn't seen or heard from Joanna in quite some time and it's not until she has arrived and met the said fiance that we find out just how long it has been. 

So Alice sets out early Saturday morning from her Brighton home she had once shared with Drew (cue a few more sobs and self flagellation) and makes the journey to London. She arrives, not at the beautiful home she had envisioned Joanna now living in, but an abandoned deserted and somewhat creepy collection of buildings known as Black Water Dock. Surely Joanna doesn't live here? But then she sees the signs for New Tobacco Wharf, the address she has for her friend. However, this is no Canary Wharf.

OK, so as soon as Alice drives into the underground carpark, cue creepy music because it's dark. And by now we have come to the conclusion multiple times that Alice is terrified of the dark. However, the lights are sensor controlled and as soon as she drives in, they come on. The lift, however, is another matter. So she climbs the six flights to Joanna's floor, rings the apartment buzzer and comes face to face with Joanna's fiance, Mark. 

Alas, despite coming all this way for answers Alice discovers all that awaits are more mysteries and uncertainties. Joanna, it seems, is away on a course. So why would she invite Alice up on a weekend she knew she was going to be away? It all seems a little suspect and as nice as Mark appears to be, something is amiss. Tired from her 3 hour journey and getting lost along the way, Alice reluctantly decides to stay the night before making the journey back home to Brighton. But Mark manages to convince her to stay when he reveals that Joanna is actually missing and has been for the past three days. Why has he not informed the police? Did something sinister happen to her friend and is Mark somehow involved?

When the police are finally called two days later, the truth as to how long it's been since Alice has seen Joanna comes to light. Ten years. So then why, after all that time, would she suddenly drop everything (not that there was that much to drop) and make the long journey to see someone she hasn't seen nor spoken to in ten years? And why, after all that time, would Joanna text her simply out of the blue? And would both women really have the same mobile numbers after ten years? I know I have had the same one for the past 12 years but not everyone does.

But that's not all that's suspect in this rather strange but twisted tale. Despite the vastness of these showroom apartments of New Tobacco Wharf, only three of them are occupied. Eloise on the 4th floor who is a little eccentric and someone else who is hardly ever in residence. So much so we never meet them. But then there is wild-eyed random squatting in one of the empty apartments who frightens Alice with his vicious insults and abuse. And then there is Derek, hired as security, sitting in his cubby hole surrounded by monitors of every nook and cranny of the building...who seems to turn up uninvited and leers at Alice, making her uncomfortable. Who are these people? And do they have something to do with Joanna's disappearance?

But then Alice finds the key to a locked drawer in her room and is shocked to discover it is filled to the brim with photos of her. Some on her own and some with Joanna. Why are they here? And what do they mean? Is Mark hiding something? Does he know what really happened to Joanna?

And then the police inform them that a body has been found. Is it Joanna?

A somewhat unlikely plot, THE BRIDE is as eye-rolling as it is baffling. The characters were unlikeable and impossible to relate to that it made it difficult to care what actually happened to them. From the beginning Alice came across as needy and flaky with no real direction. She starts her journey on a plane returning from Corfu and seeing her father to returning to the home she shared with her fiance to being dumped to receiving a text from Joanna to jumping in her car and making the 3 hour drive to London to...what exactly? I didn't see how her journey from Corfu and the playout of her relationship falling apart had anything to do with the story. These are things that could have been mentioned as a backstory...why did they have to play out? I saw no purpose in them. Not to mention that Alice herself was so whiny and flaky I could not like her at all. As for the other characters, a question mark hung over them all as to their involvement in the mystery so it was impossible to get a take on any of them. Added to that, Alice was so jumpy her perspective couldn't be trusted either. 

As the story moves on, it is clear that something is amiss...as the narration deliberately leaves you with that sense. But then again, Alice is such an unreliable narrator it's hard to know what to believe. But we do get to hear another voice besides Alice further in when we then hear from Joanna. So what secrets will she reveal?

In summary, THE BRIDE is a claustrophobic thriller that you will either like or you won't. There is an element of suspense but the problem is the story moved with such a glacial speed at the beginning with too much left unresolved in the end. There are a few twists, some of which give you whiplash and leave you wondering what really is the truth? 

Overall, THE BRIDE had a lot of potential but falls short in the end.

I would like to thank #WendyClarke, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheBride in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

From a young age, Wendy loved writing stories, but it wasn’t until the small primary school she was teaching in closed down that she started writing seriously. Enrolling on an online writing course, it was the first time she’d written since school, and she loved it so much that after the course finished she was left feeling bereft. Until her tutor suggested she try sending her stories to women’s magazines. Since then, she has had over three hundred stories published as well as serials.

With a degree in psychology, and intrigued with how the human mind can affect behaviour, it was inevitable Wendy would eventually want to explore er darker side. The idea of writing her debut psychological thriller came to her on a holiday in the Lake District. 

Wendy is the author of four psychological thrillers. Her debut novel, 'What She Saw', was published in May 2019 whilst her second novel, 'We Were Sisters', was published in August 2019. Her third novel, 'The Bride', was published in May 2020 and her fourth novel, 'His Hidden Wife', is available on pre-order and will be published on 4th February 2021.

Wendy lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

Social Media links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

REVIEW: We Were Sisters by Wendy Clarke (ARC)

We were Sisters by Wendy Clarke

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 17th August 2019

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(release date: 8th August 2019)

★★★ 3.5 stars

Despite not having read Wendy Clarke before, I was excited to bury myself into WE WERE SISTERS as it sounded positively enthralling! And it was...until the end. 

We begin with Kelly walking her twin daughters to school for their first day, an anxious time for every parent, but for Kelly it is even moreso. Suffering from severe OCD and anxiety, Kelly finds herself counting cars, steps and everything in between to ensure her girls have the perfect first day as they walk with baby Noah in his pram. Isabella, a gregarious and outgoing girl, is jumping with excitement and exuberance at the new adventure whereas twin Sophie, quiet and withdrawn, is hanging tightly onto her mum in tears and is terrified the prospect. 

Upon arriving at the school, there is the usual confusion and hubbub with finding the right class and introductions with the teacher and trying to prise Sophie from her, that when she walks back out of classroom Kelly finds that Noah's pram is not where she left it. Flying into sudden panic, Kelly searches frantically with teacher Mrs Allen's help, finding baby Noah happily gurgling in his pram at the door to the next classroom. Maybe Kelly went to the wrong classroom is the given explanation but Kelly is not so sure. Even more so when she reaches in to comfort her baby, she finds a locket beneath him. It's not her locket but an identical one...belonging to her sister Freya, who was wearing this very locket the day she died when she was a teenager.

Despite having a wonderful relationship with her husband Mitch, Kelly feels she cannot share her fears or concerns with him for fear that he may think she was delusional. Instead she tries to focus on Noah and enjoying time with him while helping the girls adjust to school. 

But then things start to become rather sinister. Noah's pram and the locket was only the beginning of more terrifying things to come for Kelly that she can't explain. Symbols drawn in the condensation on the window; waking to find the back door wide open; things being moved or appearing from nowhere; newspapers not ordered are delivered with her horoscope or Freya's circled. It all begins to get too much as she starts losing time whilst Noah lays screaming and she stares into nothingness. And then there are the nightmares. Of the Gemini tree in the woods near where Kelly grew up; of finding Freya hanging from that tree.

When she tries telling Mitch, as predicted, he thinks she is imagining things. She hasn't been herself lately and the pressure with three month old Noah is making her delusional. That's what he thinks anyway. But Kelly knows different. And no amount of counting is helping to ease her anxiety.

Parallel to the present day, we have Kelly's story from her childhood to unravel, which is not a happy tale at all. As an only child, her mother takes in foster children in an effort to find "the perfect child" that will make her husband happy. A dysfunctional concept, to say the least. 

On her 8th birthday, Kelly wishes for a sister which comes true just moments after blowing out her candles with the arrival of the strange and elusive Freya. Kelly's mother busily fusses over the new arrival whilst simultaneously dismissing her daughter and ordering her around. Her parents are fostering the 10 year old but Kelly still refers to Freya as her sister for which her mother continually admonishes her. But ever since her arrival, Freya has remained silent refusing to utter a word. But Kelly doesn't let that dissuade her. She is just happy to have a sister at last and hopes that this one stays. However, Kelly's childhood is not a happy one and is somewhat dysfunctional...so it was no surprise that things were inevitably going to go wrong. 

Then when tragedy strikes, Kelly's life falls apart. For her, it is so unspeakable that she moved away and now keeps that chapter of her life firmly closed. Not even Mitch knows the story...but we are privy to her memories as we watch both stories unfold.

Told in the past and present from Kelly's perspective, we discover that both Kelly and Freya hold a minefield of secrets between them. The mystery surrounding their past is intriguing and as the story unfolds their secrets gradually come to light, sending shockwaves throughout the tale.

I found myself becoming impatient with Kelly almost from the start. Actually, from the second page. Her constant counting drove me mad. I don't know how someone with OCD really copes with their condition as to an outsider it really is frustrating. And I guess I found Kelly frustrating throughout much of the story and yet I also empathised with her. She was an unreliable narrator which added to the mystery surrounding her and Freya, as well as her parents. It left you wondering what really happened and was Kelly really seeing it all for what it was? Or was she just imagining things? I switched between liking and disliking her throughout, she was that frustrating. But I can tell you, from the beginning, I did not like or trust Freya. AT ALL. Everyone else just sort of blended into the story, as well as being mostly unlikable. In fact, I'm not sure I like anyone particularly in this story.

A tense and complex plot that showed promise, WE WERE SISTERS is thoroughly engaging throughout but I was disappointed to find it fell a little flat by the end. I felt there had been so much tension, so much build-up, so many questions that by the time I reached the end it was all a little anti-climatic. I was like, really? That's it? The ending really didn't do the rest of the story justice, in my opinion, because the rest of it was so sinister and atmospheric it was really an enjoyable read. I guess I felt a tad cheated at the end. As someone else described it, the ending was kind of more "Oh" rather than "OHHHHHHHH!!!"

I did guess some of the reveals and with others I was way off but as always it never ruins the story for me. I just enjoy the ride. But in this case, as shocking or as heartbreaking as some of the reveals were, the end result - in my opinion - just didn't live up to the rest of the story. But don't let that deter you. WE WERE SISTERS is an intriguing and engaging story which I did enjoy for the most part.

I would like to thank #WendyClarke, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #WeWereSisters in exchange for an honest review.