Claire's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 03 Jun 2022 16:11:02 -0700 60 Claire's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Long Weekend 58466761
Dark Fell Barn is a “perfectly isolated� retreat, or so says its website when Jayne books a reservation for her friends. A quiet place, far removed from the rest of the world, is exactly what they need.

The women arrive for a girls� night ahead of their husbands. There’s ex-Army Jayne, hardened and serious, but also damaged. Ruth, the driven doctor and new mother who is battling demons of her own. Young Emily, just wed and insecure, the newest addition of this tight-knit band. Missing this year is Edie, who was the glue holding them together until her husband died suddenly.

But what they hoped would be a relaxing break soon turns to horror. Upon arrival at Dark Fell Barn, the women find a devastating note claiming one of their husbands will be murdered. There are no phones, no cell service to check on their men. Friendships fracture as the situation spins wildly out of control. Betrayal can come in many forms.

This group has kept each other’s secrets for far too long.]]>
336 Gilly Macmillan 006307432X Claire 5 3.41 2022 The Long Weekend
author: Gilly Macmillan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/06/03
shelves:
review:
Loved this book. Claustrophobic, twisty and atmsopheric
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<![CDATA[The Family Remains (The Family Upstairs, #2)]]> 58855185 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to The Family Upstairs.

Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.

Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.

After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.

As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.

In this masterful standalone sequel to her haunting New York Times bestseller, The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell proves she is writing at the height of her powers with another jaw-dropping, intricate, and affecting novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love and uncover the truth.]]>
452 Lisa Jewell 1982178892 Claire 0 to-read 3.82 2022 The Family Remains (The Family Upstairs, #2)
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Guilty Couple 58684150 He framed her. Now she'll destroy him.

Five years ago, Olivia Sutherland was wrongfully convicted of plotting to murder.

Now she's finally free, Olivia has three goals: repair her relationship with her daughter, clear her name, and bring down her husband � the man who framed her.

Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her? Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined � and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life�

The international million copy bestseller returns with her most pulse-pounding, page-turning book yet.]]>
352 C.L. Taylor 0008495734 Claire 5 3.93 2022 The Guilty Couple
author: C.L. Taylor
name: Claire
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/03/09
shelves:
review:
I am a huge fan of C L Taylor's books but this is my new favourite. Wow, what a rollercoaster of a read! I was gripped from the very first page and I couldn't put it down. My heart was in my mouth as Olivia investigated why her husband, Dominic would set her up. Every page was tense with so many brilliantly executed twists that I never saw coming. Taut writing, brilliant characterisation and a clever, unpredictable plot makes this an unmissable thriller. And that ending! I had shivers. I'd love to see this made into a TV series. Highly highly recommended.
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<![CDATA[The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner, #1)]]> 52856154 EVERYONE'S IN DANGER. ANYONE COULD BE NEXT.

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother's recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it's beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous - as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin's unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they're all in . . .]]>
383 Sarah Pearse 1787633314 Claire 5 3.43 2021 The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner, #1)
author: Sarah Pearse
name: Claire
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/05
date added: 2021/04/26
shelves:
review:
I absolutely loved this novel and it's as chilling as the location its set in. My heart was pounding just after reading the prologue and the tension and fear doesn't let up until the last page. Beautifully written and very atmospheric, with a perfect, claustrophobic setting; a remote, modern hotel that used to be a sanatorium in the Swiss mountains. Most of the guests - and the staff - had motives and I suspected everyone. The perfect chilling thriller. This would make a brilliant film. Highly recommended.
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<![CDATA[The Wolf Den (Wolf Den Trilogy, #1)]]> 56563852
Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father's death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii's infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For as a she-wolf, her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.

But Amara's spirit is far from broken.

By day, she walks the streets with her fellow she-wolves, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learned that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?

Set in Pompeii's lupanar, The Wolf Den reimagines the lives of women who have long been overlooked.]]>
464 Elodie Harper Claire 5 4.04 2021 The Wolf Den (Wolf Den Trilogy, #1)
author: Elodie Harper
name: Claire
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/21
shelves:
review:
I couldn't put this book down all weekend. Such a fascinating, compulsive and heartbreaking story and already one of my favourites of 2021. The story is told from Amara's point of view - a doctor's daughter who is sold into slavery and how she survives in the Pompeii brothel called The Wolf Den owned by the brutal and manipulative Felix. The characters were so brilliantly depicted and well rounded that I really cared about the women and their fate. I don't want to say too much without spoiling the story but it's beautiful written, with vivid descriptions of Pompeii and very haunting. I already can't stop thinking about Amara, Cressa, Dido, Victoria and the other she-wolves. Highly recommended.
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<![CDATA[Lie Beside Me (DCI Jonah Sheens, #3)]]> 55278925 You wake up.
You can't remember what happened.
The man lying next to you is not your husband.
And he's not breathing . . .

Pre-order the gripping thriller starring DCI Jonah Sheens, from the author of Richard and Judy pick and Sunday Times bestseller She Lies in Wait

Louise wakes up. Her head aches, her mouth is dry, her memory is fuzzy. But she suspects she's done something bad.

She rolls over towards her husband, Niall. The man who, until recently, made her feel loved.

But it's not Niall who's lying beside her. In fact, she's never seen this man before.

And he's dead . . .

As Louise desperately struggles to piece her memories back together, it's clear to Detective Jonah Sheens and his team that she is their prime suspect - though they soon find she's not the only one with something to hide.

Did she do it? And, if not, can they catch the real killer before they strike again?

________

Praise for the Sunday Times bestselling Jonah Sheens series . . .

'What a marvel! A corkscrew-twisty, knife-sharp thriller. . . Prepare to be haunted' A J Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

'I loved it. A SUPERIOR crime novel'
Marian Keyes

'An engaging tale of lust, rivalry and murder' The Sunday Times

'A dark, deep, terrific thriller and a scorching portrait of friendship and its betrayal' Nicci French]]>
375 Gytha Lodge 0241363055 Claire 5 3.87 2021 Lie Beside Me (DCI Jonah Sheens, #3)
author: Gytha Lodge
name: Claire
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/23
date added: 2020/12/23
shelves:
review:
A brilliant read! Even though this is a series I think it can be read as a standalone too. I've never read any of the other books in this series, but after thoroughly enjoying this one I'll be buying the others. This thriller has such a great hook - imagine waking up after a boozy night out and finding a man lying next to you who isn't your husband. And he's dead! This is what happens to Louise right at the beginning of the story. From the first, exciting page I was gripped. Not only did I enjoy Louise's point of view - which is told in first person through a letter written to her husband - but also the detectives who are working on the case, in particular Juliette. A very gripping, fast-paced and totally addictive read. Highly recommended.
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The Hit List 50024025 You don't know why.
But someone wants you dead.

When Marianne's husband Greg is knocked off his bike and killed on the way to work, she must unpick the life he left behind. Numb with grief, Marianne consoles herself by scouring Greg's laptop, finding comfort in reading his old emails and tracing his footsteps across the web. Until one day, she discovers that he had been accessing the dark web. Why was Greg, a principled charity worker and dedicated husband, logging on to a website that showcases the worst of humanity's cruel impulses and where anything is available for a price? Marianne steels herself and logs on. After tentative searching, she discovers her name on a hit list.

In this fast-paced, powerful and exceptionally plotted novel, Marianne must figure out whether Greg was trying to protect her or whether he was complicit in the conspiracy for her murder. As she is pulled deeper into the depths of the underworld that Greg was seemingly hostage to, she gets closer and closer to coming face to face with Sam - the assassin hired to kill her. The dark truths that Marianne uncovers speak volumes about the dark underbelly of our society and forces us to question how far we would go to protect those we care most about.]]>
352 Holly Seddon 1409195503 Claire 5 3.73 2020 The Hit List
author: Holly Seddon
name: Claire
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/11/10
shelves:
review:

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Keep Her Quiet 49376832
Her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can't be his. He's never felt so betrayed.

The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She's crazed with grief.

When chance throws Hannah into Leo's path, they make a plan that will have shattering consequences for all of them.

Years later, a sixteen-year-old girl reads an article in a newspaper, and embarks on a journey to uncover the truth about herself. But what she learns will put everything she has ever known - and her own life - in grave danger. Because some people will go to desperate lengths to protect the secrets their lives are built on . . .]]>
432 Emma Curtis 1473576172 Claire 5 4.05 2020 Keep Her Quiet
author: Emma Curtis
name: Claire
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/07/26
shelves:
review:
Absolutely loved this story. Emma Curtis never disappoints and I think this is her best yet. Tense, gripping, twisty and totally unputdownable. Highly recommended.
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Invisible Girl 48721357 LONDON: On a fine avenue of grand houses, big cars and electronic gates, lies a neglected urban wasteland

It is nearly midnight, and very cold. Yet in this dark place of long grass and tall trees where cats hunt and foxes shriek, a girl is waiting...

When Saffyre Maddox was ten something terrible happened and she's carried the pain of it around with her ever since. The man who she thought was going to heal her didn't, and now she hides from him, invisible in the shadows, learning his secrets; secrets she could use to blow his safe, cosy world apart.

Owen Pick is invisible too. He's thirty-three years old and he's never had a girlfriend, he's never even had a friend. Nobody sees him. Nobody cares about him.

But when Saffyre Maddox disappears from opposite his house on Valentine's night, suddenly the whole world is looking at him. Accusing him. Holding him responsible.

Because he's just the type, isn't he? A bit creepy?

INVISIBLE GIRL: A story of secrets and injustices, and of how we look in the wrong places for the bad people while the real predators walk among us in plain sight.]]>
416 Lisa Jewell 1780899238 Claire 0 to-read 3.86 2020 Invisible Girl
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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To Tell You the Truth 50997651 “One of the most unsettling â€� and unforgettable â€� heroines I’ve ever met.â€�Ìý—Shari Lapena

The acclaimed author of The Nanny and What She Knew—hailed by stalwarts including Ruth Ware, Liane Moriarty, Rosamund Lupton, Tess Gerritsen, and Shari Lapena—returns with another serpentine thriller that cleverly blends atmosphere, tarnished memories, mystery, and twisty secrets from the past into a potent, intense read that will leave you questioning everything you believe.

To tell you the truth . . . everybody lies.

Lucy Harper’s talent forÌýwriting bestselling novelsÌýhas given her fame, fortune and millions of fans.Ìý It’s also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere.

Now Dan has vanished.ÌýBut this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago,Ìýher little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found.ÌýLucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddy’s disappearance,Ìýto the detectivesâ€� fury and her parentsâ€� despair.ÌýThat was the start of her ability to tell a story—a talent she has profited from greatly.Ìý

But now Lucy’s a grown woman who can’t hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny.ÌýA life full of stories, some more believable than others. Could she have hurt Teddy?Ìý Did she kill Dan?Ìý Finally, now, Lucy Harper’s going to tell the truth.

Cross her heart.

And hope to die.]]>
352 Gilly Macmillan 0063040379 Claire 5 3.62 2020 To Tell You the Truth
author: Gilly Macmillan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/04
shelves:
review:
This is such an excellent read. I was hooked from page one and I read in three days, which is very unusual for me, especially lately. I couldn't stop turning the pages until I found out whether Lucy Harper was telling the truth. The storyline was so original and fresh and very clever and Lucy Harper is one of the best unreliable narrators I've ever read in a thriller. Highly recommended.
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Alice Teale is Missing 44150852 YOU HAD A SECRET. ALICE FOUND OUT.

Alice Teale walked out of school at the end of a bright spring day.

She's not been seen since.

Alice was popular and well-liked, and her boyfriend, friends and family are desperate to find her.

But soon it's clear that everyone in her life has something to hide.

Then the police receive a disturbing package.

Pages from Alice's precious diary.

Who could have sent them? And what have they done with Alice?]]>
416 Howard Linskey 1405933321 Claire 5 3.95 2019 Alice Teale is Missing
author: Howard Linskey
name: Claire
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/09/01
date added: 2020/05/01
shelves:
review:

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The Furies 41445791
After an accident involving her Dad and sister, Violet joins Elm Hollow Academy, a private girls school in a quiet coastal town, which has an unpleasant history as the site of famous 17th century witch trials. Violet quickly finds herself invited to become the fourth member of an advanced study group, alongside Robin, Grace, and Alex - led by their charismatic art teacher, Annabel.

While Annabel claims her classes aren’t related to ancient rites and rituals - warning the girls off the topic, describing it as little more than mythology - the girls start to believe that magic is real, and that they can harness it. But when the body of a former member of the society - Robin’s best friend, with whom Violet shares an uncanny resemblance - is found dead on campus nine months after she disappeared, Violet begins to wonder whether she can trust her friends, teachers, or even herself.]]>
384 Katie Lowe 0008288976 Claire 5 3.17 2019 The Furies
author: Katie Lowe
name: Claire
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2018/11/08
date added: 2020/02/17
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)]]> 42448022
She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.]]>
464 Lisa Jewell 1780899211 Claire 5 3.95 2019 The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/02
shelves:
review:

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The Night You Left 43603657 'Conjures an atmosphere of quiet menace.' Daily MailIT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT TO UNRAVEL A PERFECT LIFE . . .When Grace's fiancé vanishes without a trace the night after proposing, her life is turned upside down. But has Nick walked out on her, or is he in danger?As Grace desperately searches for answers, it soon becomes clear that Nick wasn't the uncomplicated man she thought she knew. And when she uncovers a hidden tragedy from his childhood, she realises an awful that you can run from your past - but your secrets will always catch up with you . . .YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS ARE RAVING ABOUT THE NIGHT YOU LEFT . . .'So addictive and compulsive . . . Clever, unpredictable and beautifully written. I loved it!' Claire Douglas, author of Local Girl Missing'A tense and twisted read.' Sarah Vaughan, author of Anatomy of a Scandal'Filled with drama and twists that exploded on to the page at every turn. Another fantastic psychological suspense by Emma Curtis.' Lauren North, author of The Perfect Betrayal- WHAT READERS ARE SAYING. . . 'Oh my goodness, I just could not stop reading this book.' 'A rollercoaster of a domestic noir/psychological thriller with plenty of twists.' 'Jaw dropping - to say more would give away a page turning must-read ending.'Don't miss the twisty new thriller from Emma Curtis, Invite Me In - available in paperback and ebook now.]]> 453 Emma Curtis Claire 5 4.08 2019 The Night You Left
author: Emma Curtis
name: Claire
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/19
date added: 2019/06/19
shelves:
review:

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Someone Is Lying 43793528 Until one day, a post on the school's website announces there will be a podcast to expose what really happened on the night of the accident. Six suspects are named, with the podcaster promising to reveal the murderer by the end of the series.
Everyone in this community has secrets to keep, and one of them is already a killer...]]>
325 Jenny Blackhurst Claire 5 3.75 2019 Someone Is Lying
author: Jenny Blackhurst
name: Claire
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/13
date added: 2019/06/13
shelves:
review:

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Somewhere Close to Happy 42744529
A laugh-out-loud funny yet heart-breaking novel about first love and second chances, with a satisfying mystery at its heart.

Lizzie James is happy. She has a steady office job (with a steady stream of tray bakes), has had the same best friend since secondary school, and she sees her family every Thursday night for take-away and TV. Granted, some members of her family she'd rather not see, and they definitely don't want to see her after what happened back then... but on the whole she's happy. Or somewhere close to it, anyway.

Until a letter arrives one day from her best friend, Roman. A letter dated 12 years ago, the exact day he went missing.

It brings all her painful memories flooding back: the new school she had to go to when she was ill, losing her beloved granddad, Hubble, and then losing her first love. As Lizzie uncovers the secrets of the letter, she starts to discover what really happened the year her life fell apart - and all avenues lead back to Roman.

Who sent her the letter, and what happened to Roman?

Perfect for fans of Cecelia Ahern, Jojo Moyes, Giovanna Fletcher and Kate Eberlen's Miss You. This is a novel you won't soon forget.]]>
336 Lia Louis 1409184145 Claire 5 3.60 2019 Somewhere Close to Happy
author: Lia Louis
name: Claire
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/05/02
shelves:
review:

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Call Me Star Girl 42761046
Pregnant Victoria Valbon was brutally murdered in an alley three weeks ago � and her killer hasn’t been caught.

Tonight is Stella McKeever’s final radio show. The theme is secrets. You tell her yours, and she’ll share some of hers.

Stella might tell you about Tom, a boyfriend who likes to play games, about the mother who abandoned her, now back after twelve years. She might tell you about the perfume bottle with the star-shaped stopper, or about her father �

What Stella really wants to know is more about the mysterious man calling the station � who says he knows who killed Victoria, and has proof.

Tonight is the night for secrets, and Stella wants to know everything�

With echoes of the chilling Play Misty for Me, Call Me Star Girl is a taut, emotive and all-consuming psychological thriller that plays on our deepest fears, providing a stark reminder that stirring up dark secrets from the past can be deadly…]]>
300 Louise Beech 1912374633 Claire 5 3.76 2019 Call Me Star Girl
author: Louise Beech
name: Claire
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/04/26
date added: 2019/04/26
shelves:
review:
Stunning in every way! Beautifully written, gripping, chilling - and the ending broke my heart! Not only is it an excellent, cleverly plotted thriller, it oozes with emotion, particularly between Stella and her mother. An unforgettable novel! Louise Beech is a genius!
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Tell Me Your Secret 42209858
Pieta has a secret.
Ten years ago, Pieta was kidnapped by a man calling himself The Blindfolder who said he wouldn't kill her if she kept her eyes closed for 48 hours. She never told anyone what happened to her, vowing to move on with her life. But when The Blindfolder starts hunting down his past victims, Pieta realises she may finally be forced to tell her deepest secret to stay alive . . .

Jody has a secret.
Fifteen years ago, policewoman Jody made a terrible mistake that resulted in a serial killer known as The Blindfolder escaping justice. When Jody discovers journalist Pieta survived an attack by him, she realises she may finally have found a way to catch him. But that would mean endangering at least two innocent people . . .

They kept quiet to protect themselves.
Will telling all save or sacrifice each other?]]>
400 Dorothy Koomson 1472260376 Claire 5 4.20 Tell Me Your Secret
author: Dorothy Koomson
name: Claire
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/04/01
date added: 2019/04/01
shelves:
review:
I'm a huge fan of Dorothy Koomson's books so was delighted when I received a proof of her latest thriller. I devoured it in two days, and had to read it at every available opportunity. The pace never flags and I really liked the two main characters, Pieta and Jody. The plot was scary and original and the final reveal had me gasping in shock. An excellent, gripping story that, once started, is impossible to put down. Highly recommended.
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The Evidence Against You 39940912
Now, Izzy's father sends her a letter. He wants to talk, to defend himself against each piece of evidence from his trial. But should she give him the benefit of the doubt? Or is her father guilty as charged, and luring her into a trap?]]>
422 Gillian McAllister 1405934565 Claire 5 3.73 2019 The Evidence Against You
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Claire
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/21
shelves:
review:

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The Swap 43709703
Two women. Two children. But whose is whose?

When two strangers, Tess and Annie, undergo IVF at an American clinic, their embryos are mixed up and each woman gives birth to the wrong child.

The women only discover the devastating error three years later. Tess wants to swap the children back; Annie doesn't. As the pair wrangle, neither of them expect what unfolds.

**

PRAISE FOR THE MAID'S ROOM

'A modern-day The Help' - Emerald Street

'Passionate . . . powerful' - Daily Mail

'Exquisite writing . . . a shocking and powerful story line that had me gripped and moved until the uplifting conclusion . . . A fascinating read about survival and the strength and resilience of the human heart' - Katie Marsh, author of A Life Without You and This Beautiful Life]]>
304 Fiona Mitchell 1473659663 Claire 5 I raced through this novel, desperate to know how it would end, all the while thinking what I would do if I'd been in this situation.
Tess and Annie are two very different women who each react in their own way when they find out about the mix up. Annie loves her daughter Willow who's beautiful, dark haired, olive skinned and looks nothing like her. Tess, on the other hand, has always struggled to bond with Freddie and has been desperate for a daughter after losing her own many years before.
The story, at times, is truly heartbreaking and I particularly felt for little Freddie. I don't want to say anything else as I don't want to spoil it but I highly recommend this original, beautifully written and gripping read.

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3.57 2019 The Swap
author: Fiona Mitchell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/21
date added: 2019/03/21
shelves:
review:
This is a wonderfully written, thought provoking novel about two women who each discover that the embryos implanted during IVF aren't their own.
I raced through this novel, desperate to know how it would end, all the while thinking what I would do if I'd been in this situation.
Tess and Annie are two very different women who each react in their own way when they find out about the mix up. Annie loves her daughter Willow who's beautiful, dark haired, olive skinned and looks nothing like her. Tess, on the other hand, has always struggled to bond with Freddie and has been desperate for a daughter after losing her own many years before.
The story, at times, is truly heartbreaking and I particularly felt for little Freddie. I don't want to say anything else as I don't want to spoil it but I highly recommend this original, beautifully written and gripping read.


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On My Life 40376723 Framed. Imprisoned. Pregnant. It's her worst nightmare...

Jenna Burns is horrified and distraught when she returns home to find her stepdaughter murdered and her beloved fiancé, Robert, missing. When the police discover Robert's blood, she is charged, and imprisoned until trial.

When Jenna learns she is pregnant, she must fight to protect herself and her unborn baby in the notorious Fallenbrook prison, surrounded by inmates who believe she is guilty. With only fifty-four Mother and Baby Unit prison spaces in the country, Jenna must convince the prison board to let her keep her baby, or it will be taken away at birth.

But as her due date nears, and she tries to work out who the real killer is, she begins to fear that her child will be given to her worst enemy: whoever put her behind bars.

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334 Angela Clarke 1473681537 Claire 5 4.17 2019 On My Life
author: Angela Clarke
name: Claire
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/11
shelves:
review:

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The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom 43167327
But last night her teenage daughter found something in a hidden shoebox that no-one was supposed to see and started asking questions. Questions that might just change everything in Eliza’s carefully constructed world.

Join Eliza as she shows you how to run away with the love of your life (quite fast actually, as your family are coming after you), how to make your grandfather happy (this might involve a little bit of lying), how to let someone you love go (actually, this never gets easier) and how (now, this is a bad idea) to keep secrets from your new husband.

The only way to truly live is to learn how to open your heart.]]>
370 Beth Miller 1786816822 Claire 5 The story begins in 2016 and Eliza is married to Alex and they have a teenage daughter Leah. But then Leah finds something that opens a whole can of worms and the story then goes back to when Eliza was living at home and about to marry Nathan. I loved this structure as it gave the story a brilliant pace and I was desperate to know what the secrets were. Just what has Eliza been hiding all these years?
I was emotionally invested in all the characters and their lives. I never knew much about the Orthodox Jewish way of life before and I found it fascinating. I loved how the author shows us the secular world through Eliza's eyes after she elopes with Alex. A beautiful story about fighting for love against all the odds. Highly recommended.
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3.92 2019 The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom
author: Beth Miller
name: Claire
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/02/28
shelves:
review:
I'm not a fast reader but I read this book in days. I thought it was a beautifully written, funny and moving story that gripped me from the first page. Eliza Bloom is an Orthodox Jew who is about to marry Nathan, a man her parents introduced her to. She's already turned down other offers and her dad, in particular is getting impatient for her to settle down. But it's not until after she agrees to marry Nathan that she meets the non-Jewish Alex and falls in love with him.
The story begins in 2016 and Eliza is married to Alex and they have a teenage daughter Leah. But then Leah finds something that opens a whole can of worms and the story then goes back to when Eliza was living at home and about to marry Nathan. I loved this structure as it gave the story a brilliant pace and I was desperate to know what the secrets were. Just what has Eliza been hiding all these years?
I was emotionally invested in all the characters and their lives. I never knew much about the Orthodox Jewish way of life before and I found it fascinating. I loved how the author shows us the secular world through Eliza's eyes after she elopes with Alex. A beautiful story about fighting for love against all the odds. Highly recommended.

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The Dragon Lady 41433275 The Dragon Lady tells Ginie's extraordinary story, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play.

Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband ,Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger?]]>
320 Louisa Treger 1448217261 Claire 5 Evocative, imaginative with a mystery at its heart. This book really does have everything. I couldn't wait to find out who shot The Dragon Lady, but at the same time it was so beautifully written that I didn't want it to end. Highly recommended. ]]> 3.84 2019 The Dragon Lady
author: Louisa Treger
name: Claire
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/02/13
shelves:
review:
This is a wonderful book! The writing is so rich and descriptive I felt totally immersed in this novel and in Rhodesia. Louisa Treger cleverly blends fact and fiction to tell us Lady Virginia Courtauld's story. She is a fascinating character, forced to leave society for being a foreign divorcee and trying to make a new life for herself in Rhodesia. I knew nothing about Virginia Courtauld before reading The Dragon Lady but the history, and what she achieved is amazing. I felt the author really brought all this to life, and as well as a wonderful, emotive, sometimes shocking story I felt I learned something.
Evocative, imaginative with a mystery at its heart. This book really does have everything. I couldn't wait to find out who shot The Dragon Lady, but at the same time it was so beautifully written that I didn't want it to end. Highly recommended.
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I Know You Know 36461454
Twenty years ago, eleven-year-olds Charlie Paige and Scott Ashby were murdered in the city of Bristol, their bodies dumped near a dog racing track. A man was convicted of the brutal crime, but decades later, questions still linger.

For his whole life, filmmaker Cody Swift has been haunted by the deaths of his childhood best friends. The loose ends of the police investigation consume him so much that he decides to return to Bristol in search of answers. Hoping to uncover new evidence, and to encourage those who may be keeping long-buried secrets to speak up, Cody starts a podcast to record his findings. But there are many people who don’t want the case—along with old wounds—reopened so many years after the tragedy, especially Charlie’s mother, Jess, who decides to take matters into her own hands.

When a long-dead body is found in the same location the boys were left decades before, the disturbing discovery launches another murder investigation. Now Detective John Fletcher, the investigator on the original case, must reopen his dusty files and decide if the two murders are linked. With his career at risk, the clock is ticking and lives are in jeopardy…]]>
384 Gilly Macmillan 0062698613 Claire 0 to-read 3.33 2018 I Know You Know
author: Gilly Macmillan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/10/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Night Olivia Fell 36962927 Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unraveling the truth behind how her daughter became brain dead. And pregnant.

A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.

When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

Christina McDonald weaves a suspenseful and heartwrenching tale of hidden relationships, devastating lies, and the power of a mother’s love. With flashbacks of Olivia’s own resolve to uncover family secrets, this taut and emotional novel asks: how well do you know your children? And how well do they know you?]]>
342 Christina McDonald 1501184008 Claire 5 3.87 2019 The Night Olivia Fell
author: Christina McDonald
name: Claire
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/10/08
shelves:
review:

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Love Will Tear Us Apart 38928320
Years later, with the deadline of their 30th birthdays approaching, the unlikely couple decide to keep their teenage promise. After all, they are such good friends. Surely that's enough to make a marriage?

Now, on the eve of their 10th wedding anniversary, they will discover that love between men and women is more complex, and more precarious, than they could ever have imagined. As Kate struggles with a secret that reaches far into their past, will the couple's vow become the very thing that threatens their future?

Love Will Tear Us Apart is a moving and heart-breaking exploration of modern love and friendship, from the bestselling author of Try Not to Breathe.]]>
346 Holly Seddon 1786490544 Claire 5 3.57 2018 Love Will Tear Us Apart
author: Holly Seddon
name: Claire
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/10/05
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Just What Kind of Mother Are You?]]> 16071790
What if your best friend's child disappears? And it was all your fault.

A searing and sinister thriller for readers who liked Gone Girl.What if your best friend's child disappears? And it was all your fault. This is exactly what happens to Lisa Kallisto, overwhelmed working mother of three, one freezing December in the English Lake District. She takes her eye off the ball for just a moment and her whole world descendsÌýinto the stuff of nightmares. Because, not only is thirteen-year-old Lucinda missing, and not only is it all Lisa's fault, but she's the second teenage girl to disappear within this small tightknit community over two weeks. The first girl turned up stripped bare, dumped on a busy high street, after suffering from a terrifying ordeal.Ìý

Wracked with guilt over her mistake and after being publicly blamed by Lucinda's family, Lisa sets out to right the wrong. But as she begins peeling away the layers surrounding Lucinda's disappearance, Lisa learns that the small, posh, quiet town she lives in isn't what she thought it was, and her friends may not be who they appear, either.]]>
320 Paula Daly 0385680074 Claire 0 to-read 3.76 2013 Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
author: Paula Daly
name: Claire
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Story Keeper 35276769 From the author of THE UNSEEING comes a sizzling, period novel of folk tales, disappearances and injustice set on the Isle of Skye, sure to appeal to readers of Hannah Kent's BURIAL RITES or Beth Underdown's THE WITCH FINDER'S SISTER.

'A wonderful combination of a thrilling mystery and a perfectly depicted period piece' Sunday Mirror

Audrey Hart is on the Isle of Skye to collect the word-of-mouth folk tales of the people and communities around her. It is 1857, the Highland Clearances have left devastation and poverty, and the crofters are suspicious and hostile, claiming they no longer know their stories. Then Audrey discovers the body of a young girl washed up on the beach and the crofters tell her that it is only a matter of weeks since another girl has disappeared. They believe the girls are the victims of the spirits of the unforgiven dead. Initially, Audrey is sure the girls are being abducted, but then she is reminded of her own mother, a Skye woman who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. It seems there is a link to be explored, and Audrey may uncover just what her family have been hiding from her all these years.]]>
384 Anna Mazzola 1472234782 Claire 0 to-read 3.77 2018 The Story Keeper
author: Anna Mazzola
name: Claire
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

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When I Find You 39323683 What do you do when someone takes advantage of your greatest weakness?

When Laura wakes up after her office Christmas party and sees a man’s shirt on the floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret. Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, a condition that means she is completely unable to identify and remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing � the man she thought she’d brought home � was ‘Pink Shirt�.

But the shirt on her floor is blue. And now Laura must go to work every day and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising.

She doesn’t know who he is . . . but she’ll make him pay.]]>
395 Emma Curtis 1473559782 Claire 5 3.94 2018 When I Find You
author: Emma Curtis
name: Claire
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/07/07
shelves:
review:

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The Cliff House 36589608
Cornwall, summer of 1986.

The Davenports, with their fast cars and glamorous clothes, living the dream in a breathtaking house overlooking the sea.

If only� thinks sixteen-year-old Tamsyn, her binoculars trained on the perfect family in their perfect home.

If only her life was as perfect as theirs.

If only Edie Davenport would be her friend.

If only she lived at The Cliff House�

Amanda Jennings weaves a haunting tale of obsession, loss and longing, set against the brooding North Cornish coastline, destined to stay with readers long after the final page is turned.

‘A beautiful, stirring story of loss and obsession� Lisa Jewell]]>
384 Amanda Jennings 0008250367 Claire 5 3.43 2018 The Cliff House
author: Amanda Jennings
name: Claire
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/06/20
shelves:
review:

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Take Me In 35478740
He saved your son's life.
Does that mean you have to give him yours?

It starts with a holiday.

A three-year-old boy on a beach,
and the hero who saves his life.

But nothing is ever that simple.

Tessa and Marcus know they owe Dave Jepsom more than they can ever repay.

Yet even as he is walking from the sea with their son in his arms,
there is something about him that makes them uneasy.

He is not like other people that they know.
Being with him makes them confront truths about themselves they would rather not see.

The shock of that moment will change everything.

And it's not how things start that matter.
But how they end . . .]]>
352 Sabine Durrant 1473608376 Claire 5 3.50 2018 Take Me In
author: Sabine Durrant
name: Claire
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/20
date added: 2018/06/20
shelves:
review:

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The Chalk Man 35356382
In 2016, Eddie is fully grown, and thinks he's put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank . . . until one of them turns up dead.

That's when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.]]>
280 C.J. Tudor 1524760986 Claire 5 3.68 2018 The Chalk Man
author: C.J. Tudor
name: Claire
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/11
shelves:
review:

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Anatomy of a Scandal 34466492
Sophie’s husband James is a loving father, a handsome man, a charismatic and successful public figure. And yet he stands accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is convinced he is innocent and desperate to protect her precious family from the lies that threaten to rip them apart.

Kate is the lawyer hired to prosecute the case: an experienced professional who knows that the law is all about winning the argument. And yet Kate seeks the truth at all times. She is certain James is guilty and is determined he will pay for his crimes.

Who is right about James? Sophie or Kate? And is either of them informed by anything more than instinct and personal experience? Despite her privileged upbringing, Sophie is well aware that her beautiful life is not inviolable. She has known it since she and James were first lovers, at Oxford, and she witnessed how easily pleasure could tip into tragedy.

Most people would prefer not to try to understand what passes between a man and a woman when they are alone: alone in bed, alone in an embrace, alone in an elevator� Or alone in the moonlit courtyard of an Oxford college, where a girl once stood before a boy, heart pounding with excitement, then fear. Sophie never understood why her tutorial partner Holly left Oxford so abruptly. What would she think, if she knew the truth?]]>
392 Sarah Vaughan 1501172166 Claire 5
This a beautifully written, tense, compelling thriller that I absolutely loved. Every word, turn of phrase and description felt well crafted and confident and I was totally swept up in the story. Perfect.]]>
3.57 2018 Anatomy of a Scandal
author: Sarah Vaughan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/11
shelves:
review:
This is a very special novel. From the very first page I was hooked by the beautiful writing and the believable characters. The novel centres around barrister Kate who is determined to prove that politician, James is guilty of the rape he has been accused of. It's also told from James' wife, Sophie's point of view and the horror she faces while her husband stands trial. There are also flashbacks to Oxford University in the 1990s.

This a beautifully written, tense, compelling thriller that I absolutely loved. Every word, turn of phrase and description felt well crafted and confident and I was totally swept up in the story. Perfect.
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The Fear 36526551
Now 32, Lou’s life is in tatters � and she resolves to return home to confront Mike for the damage he has caused. But she soon finds that Mike is unchanged, and is now grooming a young 15-year-old girl called Chloe.

Determined to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself, Lou decides to take matters into her own hands. But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as she tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that Lou could once again become his prey�

The million copy Sunday Times bestseller returns with a taut, compelling psychological thriller that will have you glued to the edge of your seat.]]>
416 C.L. Taylor 0008118108 Claire 5 3.93 2018 The Fear
author: C.L. Taylor
name: Claire
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/01/05
date added: 2018/01/05
shelves:
review:
I've enjoyed all of Cally's books but I think this one is my favourite. I was gripped from the first page. It was clever and original with unexpected twists and turns throughout. The characters were so brilliantly drawn, particularly Wendy and the detestable Mike! I highly recommend this!
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Exhibit Alexandra: A Novel 35629257 He thought he knew everything about her until she went missing.

Before she disappeared, Alexandra Southwood lived an average, happy life: devoted to her wonderful husband, Marc, and caring for her two beautiful daughters. But now, held in a room against her will, Alexandra is forced to think about all she's lost, and imagine how Marc and her daughters are coping in the wake of her disappearance. She's shown news clips of Marc, desperately appealing to the public for information on her whereabouts. She tortures herself with visions of her family's devastated new reality. And as she envisions Marc's distress, she can't help but remember their courtship, their marriage--all that he saved her from and all that they've built together.

Marc's pain is visceral. He thinks of nothing but her. Even when the police discover Alexandra's bloody belongings by the river, turning their missing-persons case into a murder investigation, he cannot accept that she is lost to him. He shifts from total despair to frantic action, embarking on his own journey through the dark maze of secrets she kept and passions he never understood. Following a trail that leads him to find answers to questions he never meant to ask, he's forced to confront how frighteningly little he's grasped about the woman he loves.

Exhibit Alexandra is a shocking psychological portrait, an original and unrelenting thriller that ultimately proves how unknowable even those closest to us can be.]]>
0 Natasha Bell 0525526579 Claire 5 3.25 2018 Exhibit Alexandra: A Novel
author: Natasha Bell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/01/05
shelves:
review:
I loved this. I thought it was taut, intelligent and beautifully written with an original twist. I don't want to say too much because I'd hate to give away spoilers but highly recommended.
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Everything Is Lies 36348491 No-one is who you think they are

Sophia's parents lead quiet, unremarkable lives. At least that is what she's always believed.

Everyone has secrets

Until the day she arrives at her childhood home to find a house ringing with silence. Her mother is hanging from a tree. Her father is lying in a pool of his own blood, near to death.

Especially those closest to you

The police are convinced it is an attempted murder-suicide. But Sophia is sure that the woman who brought her up isn't a killer. As her father is too ill to talk it is up to Sophia to clear her mother's name. And to do this she needs to delve deep into her family's past - a past full of dark secrets she never suspected were there . . .

What if your parents had been lying to you since the day you were born?
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400 Helen Callaghan 1405928115 Claire 5 3.78 2018 Everything Is Lies
author: Helen Callaghan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2017/12/11
date added: 2017/12/11
shelves:
review:
I loved this psychological thriller and was gripped from the first chapter. The story begins when Sophia goes back to her childhood home to visit her parents and finds her mother dead and her father seriously injured. The police say it's suicide but Sophia doesn't believe it. This is such a great premise and hooked me in straight away. Sophia digs deeper into her parents' past to find out what really happened to her mother, Nina. When she uncovers some notebooks from Nina's past in the late 1980s things become even more twisty and turny. I devoured this thriller and can't recommend highly enough.
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The Silent Companions 35458733 When newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge, what greets her is far from the life of wealth and privilege she was expecting . . .

When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure —a silent companion �-that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. The residents of The Bridge are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition--that is, until she notices the figure's eyes following her.

A Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, this is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect--much like the silent companions themselves.]]>
305 Laura Purcell 014313163X Claire 5 3.86 2017 The Silent Companions
author: Laura Purcell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/11/21
shelves:
review:
I loved this gothic horror story. Beautifully written, yet so spooky, dark and menacing. The silent companions of the title were the eeriest things I've ever read about. The ending was so chilling that I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards. Genuinely one of the scariest books I've ever read!
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<![CDATA[Dark Pines (Tuva Moodyson Mystery, #1)]]> 35672370
A deaf reporter terrified of nature.

A dense spruce forest overdue for harvest.

A pair of eyeless hunters found murdered in the woods.

It’s week one of the Swedish elk hunt and the sound of gunfire is everywhere. When Tuva Moodyson investigates the story that could make her career she stumbles on a web of secrets that knit Gavrik town together. Are the latest murders connected to the Medusa killings twenty years ago? Is someone following her? Why take the eyes? Tuva must face her demons and venture deep into the woods to stop the killer and write the story. And then get the hell out of Gavrik.]]>
328 Will Dean 178607253X Claire 5 3.67 2018 Dark Pines (Tuva Moodyson Mystery, #1)
author: Will Dean
name: Claire
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/09/06
shelves:
review:
A brilliant, gripping read! Beautifully written, atmospheric and really scary in parts. Highly recommended.
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Maria in the Moon 34886124 Sunday Mirror

‘A Stirring novel, beautifully written� Irish Times

A devastating memory emerges â€� that changes everything, in this dark and moving novel by the bestselling author of How To Be BraveÌýand The Lion Tamer Who Lost

‘Like a cold spider, the memory stirred in my head and spun an icy web about my brain. Someone else crawled in. I remembered�

Thirty-one-year-old Catherine Hope has a great memory. But she can’t remember everything. She can’t remember her ninth year. She can’t remember when her insomnia started. And she can’t remember why everyone stopped calling her Catherine-Maria.

With a promiscuous past, and licking her wounds after a painful breakup, Catherine wonders why she resists anything approaching real love. But when she loses her home to the devastating deluge of 2007 and volunteers at Flood Crisis, a devastating memory emerges � and changes everything.

Dark, poignant and deeply moving, Maria in the MoonÌýis an examination of the nature of memory and truth, and the defences we build to protect ourselves, when we can no longer hideâ€�

‘Part psychological thriller, part love story and fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely FineÌýwill love itâ€� Red Magazine

‘A beautiful and compassionate read� Prima Magazine

‘Beech’s exploration of the effects of childhood trauma keeps the reader intrigued until the end� Mary Ellen Quinn, Booklist

‘As heartbreaking as the book ends up being, it’s a title worth wading into and rolling with� Book Riot

‘Beautifully constructed, laugh-out-loud funny in places, and achingly sad in others. It’s such a beautifully told story of loss and gain. Equal parts Victoria Wood, Alan Bennett and John Irving, all rolled up into an emotive, heart-breaking story. I completely fell in love� John Marrs

‘A beautiful, and heart-achingly touching read� LoveReading]]>
280 Louise Beech 1910633836 Claire 5 4.05 2017 Maria in the Moon
author: Louise Beech
name: Claire
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/07/30
date added: 2017/08/25
shelves:
review:
This is such a beautifully written, poignant book that has stayed with me long after I finished it. Set against the backdrop of the Hull floods it's atmospheric, dark, funny and sad as we journey with Catherine as she tries to remember what happened in her ninth year. Catherine is such a brilliant character - well rounded and fully fleshed out and so very believable I felt like I knew her. Louise Beech is such a beautiful writer that I wanted to savour every word, but at the same time the story races along and I was desperate to find out what secrets and tragedies lurked in Catherine's past. A brilliant book.
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The Maid's Room 35527110 The Maid's Room follows the lives of two Filipina maids - sisters Dolly and Tala who are working hard to send money back home, and British ex-pat Jules who has left her job as a midwife to move to Singapore with husband David.

Told with humour, heart-breaking detail about daily life as a maid, and with an exhilarating spirit that is ultimately uplifting, this book will resonate with anyone who has struggled to have their voice heard.

Perfect for fans of The Help and The Invention of Wings.]]>
288 Fiona Mitchell 1473659566 Claire 5 3.71 2017 The Maid's Room
author: Fiona Mitchell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/08/16
date added: 2017/08/16
shelves:
review:
This book is amazing! I loved everything about it and will be thinking about it for a very long time. Full review to follow!
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The Silent Companions 34600633
A Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, The Silent Companions is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect—much like the companions themselves.

Winner of the W H Smith Thumping Good Read Award

As featured on the Radio 2 Book Club and the Zoe Ball ITV Book Club

'[An] extraordinary, memorable and truly haunting book' Jojo Moyes

'[It] shone, for originality for the sheer quality of the writing, the characters and some masterly chills' Peter James]]>
364 Laura Purcell 1408888092 Claire 0 to-read 4.00 2017 The Silent Companions
author: Laura Purcell
name: Claire
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/07/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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Gone Girl 8442457 What have we done to each other?

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?]]>
399 Gillian Flynn Claire 4 3.93 2012 Gone Girl
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Claire
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/07/08
shelves:
review:

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Then She Was Gone 34806691 She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?]]>
426 Lisa Jewell Claire 5 4.05 2017 Then She Was Gone
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Claire
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/06/28
date added: 2017/07/07
shelves:
review:
I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell and have read and loved every single one. But this one - wow, this one is my favourite so far. It's probably her darkest book - more psychological thriller and quite scary at times. Right from the beginning I was intrigued and desperate to know what had happened to fifteen year old Ellie Mack. It's truly heart breaking in places. I loved the characters of Ellie and Laurel and the theme of mothers and daughters that ran through this novel. I cried at scenes where Laurel was talking to her mum in the care home and the ending - well, I actually sobbed. Maybe it's because I have a daughter myself, but this book really got to me. I still can't stop thinking about it. This really is a wonderful book. I can't recommend it highly enough!
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The Death Of Her 35296379 The Death of Her is a haunting psychological thriller from Debbie Howells, author of the bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club success The Bones of You.

A woman’s body is discovered on a Cornish farm, battered and left for dead in a maize field. Airlifted to hospital, her life hanging in the balance, no one’s sure who she is. Three days later she comes round, but her memory is damaged. She knows her name � Evie � but no more, until she remembers another name. Angel � her three-year-old daughter.

As the police circulate Evie’s photo, someone recognizes her. Charlotte knew her years ago, at school, when another child went missing. Leah Danning, who vanished whilst in Evie’s care.

When the police search Evie’s home, there’s no sign of Angel. More disturbingly, there’s no evidence that she ever lived there, forcing the police to question whether Evie’s having some kind of breakdown.

But even from the darkest place she’s ever known, Evie believes her daughter is alive. The police remain unconvinced � unaware that on the fringes of Evie’s life, there’s someone else. Someone hidden, watching her every move, with their own agenda and their own twisted version of reality.]]>
352 Debbie Howells 1509834648 Claire 5
When a woman called Evie is found assaulted in a field in Cornwall she's convinced that her child, Angel was with her and has been abducted. Local woman, Charlotte, recognises the woman as Jen, an acquaintance from her school days and remembers that there was scandal around her because a young girl called Leah went missing from her care and was never found.

The police - and Charlotte - even begin to wonder if Evie/Jen even has a child and that Angel isn't just a figment of her imagination, perhaps brought on by guilt after what happened to Leah.

I don't want to say too much without giving it away as there are lots of twists and turns in this book. I was gripped from the very beginning. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, wanting to know whether Jen/Evie was responsible for Leah's disappearance all those years ago, and whether she really did have a child called Angel. And what does a red-headed teenager found dead in a field have to do with it all? The twists left me breathless and I never expected that ending.

An excellent read.
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3.42 2017 The Death Of Her
author: Debbie Howells
name: Claire
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/06/26
date added: 2017/06/26
shelves:
review:
I'm a huge fan of Debbie Howells and have read all her books. The Death of Her definitely didn't disappoint.

When a woman called Evie is found assaulted in a field in Cornwall she's convinced that her child, Angel was with her and has been abducted. Local woman, Charlotte, recognises the woman as Jen, an acquaintance from her school days and remembers that there was scandal around her because a young girl called Leah went missing from her care and was never found.

The police - and Charlotte - even begin to wonder if Evie/Jen even has a child and that Angel isn't just a figment of her imagination, perhaps brought on by guilt after what happened to Leah.

I don't want to say too much without giving it away as there are lots of twists and turns in this book. I was gripped from the very beginning. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, wanting to know whether Jen/Evie was responsible for Leah's disappearance all those years ago, and whether she really did have a child called Angel. And what does a red-headed teenager found dead in a field have to do with it all? The twists left me breathless and I never expected that ending.

An excellent read.

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Odd Child Out (Jim Clemo, #2) 34150785 How well do you know the people you love�?

Best friends Noah Sandler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable.Ìý But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi can't--or won't--tell anyone what happened.

Just back from a mandatory leave following his last case, Detective Jim Clemo is now assigned to look into this unfortunate accident.Ìý But tragedy strikes and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle.Ìý Noah is British.Ìý Abdi is a Somali refugee.ÌýÌý And social tensions have been rising rapidly in Bristol.Ìý Against this background of fear and fury two families fight for their sons and for the truth.Ìý Neither of them know how far they will have to go, what demons they will have to face, what pain they will have to suffer.

Because the truth hurts.]]>
432 Gilly Macmillan 0062476823 Claire 0 to-read 3.62 2017 Odd Child Out (Jim Clemo, #2)
author: Gilly Macmillan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/06/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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LYING GAME, THE 32054076 I need you.� Three small words that change everything.

Isa Wilde knows something terrible has happened when she receives this text from an old friend. Why else would Kate summon her and their two friends to the seaside town where they attended The Salten House boarding school together seventeen years ago? The four friends bonded over The Lying Game - a risky contest that involved tricking fellow boarders and faculty with their lies. Now reunited, Isa, Kate, Thea, and Fatima discover that their past lies had far-reaching implications that threaten them all. To protect their reputations, and their friendship, they must uncover the truth about what really happened all those years ago.]]>
384 Ruth Ware 1911215019 Claire 0 to-read 3.36 2017 LYING GAME, THE
author: Ruth Ware
name: Claire
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/06/15
shelves: to-read
review:

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Anatomy of a Scandal 34791469 400 Sarah Vaughan 1501172174 Claire 5 3.47 2018 Anatomy of a Scandal
author: Sarah Vaughan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2017/05/04
date added: 2017/05/04
shelves:
review:

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They All Fall Down 32800760
Now she's in a psychiatric clinic. It should be a safe place. But patients keep dying.

The doctors say it's suicide. Hannah knows they're lying.

Can she make anyone believe her before the killer strikes again?]]>
377 Tammy Cohen Claire 0 to-read 4.00 2017 They All Fall Down
author: Tammy Cohen
name: Claire
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

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Last Seen 33260180 In a small seaside community, there’s always somebody watching�

Twisty, pacy, and superbly plotted, Last Seen is the perfect psychological page-turner for fans of Clare Mackintosh and Sabine Durrant.

Seven years ago, two boys went missing at sea � and only one was brought to shore. The Sandbank, a remote stretch of coast dotted with beach huts, was scarred forever.

Sarah’s son survived, but on the anniversary of the accident, he disappears without trace. As new secrets begin to surface, The Sandbank hums with tension and unanswered questions. Sarah’s search grows more desperate and she starts to mistrust everyone she knows � and she’s right to.

Someone saw everything on that fateful day seven years ago. And they’ll do anything to keep the truth buried.

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449 Lucy Clarke 0007563396 Claire 5 4.13 2017 Last Seen
author: Lucy Clarke
name: Claire
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/04/08
date added: 2017/04/08
shelves:
review:

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Hush Little Baby 32191593 When baby Oliver breaks his arm, no-one can (or will) say how it happened.

His mother is exhausted.

His father is angry.

His older sister is resentful.

And they all have something to hide...]]>
0 Joanna Barnard 1473527503 Claire 5 3.58 2017 Hush Little Baby
author: Joanna Barnard
name: Claire
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/03/14
date added: 2017/03/14
shelves:
review:

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The Roanoke Girls 30689335 Listening time 10 hours 41 minutes

Vowing to discover the fate of her missing cousin, a woman returns to her family’s Kansas estate where she spent one haunting summer as a teen, and where she discovered the dark heart of the Roanoke clan that left her no choice but to run.

Lane Roanoke is fifteen when she comes to live with her maternal grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, at the Roanoke family estate in rural Osage Flats, Kansas, following the suicide of her mother. Lane knows little of her mother’s family, other than the fact that her mother ran away years before and cut off all contact with her parents. Allegra, abandoned by her own mother at birth and raised by her grandparents, introduces Lane to small-town life and the benefits of being one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But there is darkness at the heart of the Roanoke family, and when Lane discovers its insidious pull she has no choice but to run, as far and as fast as she can.

Eleven years later, Lane is scraping by in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls with the news that Allegra has gone missing. “Come home,� he beckons. Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to Osage Flats, determined to find her cousin and assuage her own guilt at having left Allegra behind all those years ago. Her return might mean a second chance with Cooper, the boyfriend whom she loved and destroyed that fateful summer. But it also means facing the terrible secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between the summer of Lane’s first arrival and the summer of her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.]]>
279 Amy Engel 1101906669 Claire 5 3.68 2017 The Roanoke Girls
author: Amy Engel
name: Claire
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/17
date added: 2017/02/17
shelves:
review:

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The Binding Song 32929712 316 Elodie Harper 1473642167 Claire 5 3.69 2017 The Binding Song
author: Elodie Harper
name: Claire
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/05
date added: 2017/02/05
shelves:
review:
This is probably one of the most atmospheric, eerie books I've ever read. I could imagine the prison, the bleak landscape, the weather, the feeling of dread that hovered over the main character, Janet as she begins her new job as a psychiatrist of Halvergate prison. But what happened to her predecessor? And why are his notes missing? I thought Janet was a really well constructed character who has demons of her own as she begins to investigate a spate of suicides at the prison. As the whispers of 'The White Visitor', an avenging woman with black eyes and a pale face sweep through the inmates, events take on a very creepy, very sinister turn. Parts of the story had my heart beating with fear and I suspected everyone. I didn't predict the ending at all, which was very clever and plausible. Highly recommended.
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The Trophy Child 30758184 The Trophy Child, Daly digs beneath the serene surface of the idyllic suburban Lake District community where families strive for perfection, delivering a suspenseful, surprising story of motherhood and fallibility.

Karen Bloom is not the coddling mother type. She believes in raising her children for success. Some in the neighborhood call her assertive, others say she’s driven, but in gossiping circles she’s known as: the tiger mother. Karen believes that tough discipline is the true art of parenting and that achievement leads to ultimate happiness. She expects her husband and her children to perform at 200 percent—no matter the cost. But in an unending quest for excellence, her seemingly flawless family start to rebel against her.

Her husband Noel is a handsome doctor with a proclivity for alcohol and women. Their prodigy daughter, Bronte, is excelling at school, music lessons, dance classes, and yet she longs to run away. Verity, Noel’s teenage daughter from his first marriage, is starting to display aggressive behavior. And Karen’s son from a previous relationship falls deeper into drug use. When tragedy strikes the Blooms, Karen’s carefully constructed facade begins to fall apart—and once the deadly cracks appear, they are impossible to stop.

A thrilling tale of ambition and murder, Daly’s richly imagined world of suburban striving and motherly love is an absorbing page-turner about the illusions of perfection and the power games between husband and wife, parent and child.]]>
343 Paula Daly 0802125948 Claire 5 3.67 2017 The Trophy Child
author: Paula Daly
name: Claire
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/01/21
shelves:
review:

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Black Rabbit Hall 23337562
Ghosts are everywhere, not just the ghost of Momma in the woods, but ghosts of us too, what we used to be like in those long summers ...

Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family's country estate, where no two clocks read the same. Summers there are perfect, timeless. Not much ever happens. Until, of course, it does.

More than three decades later, Lorna is determined to be married within the grand, ivy-covered walls of Pencraw Hall, known as Black Rabbit Hall among the locals. But as she's drawn deeper into the overgrown grounds, half-buried memories of her mother begin to surface and Lorna soon finds herself ensnared within the manor's labyrinthine history, overcome with an insatiable need for answers about her own past and that of the once-happy family whose memory still haunts the estate.

Stunning and atmospheric, this debut novel is a thrilling spiral into the hearts of two women separated by decades but inescapably linked by the dark and tangled secrets of Black Rabbit Hall.]]>
400 Eve Chase 0718180070 Claire 5 3.84 2015 Black Rabbit Hall
author: Eve Chase
name: Claire
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/01
date added: 2017/01/19
shelves:
review:
I loved everything about this book. Read it on holiday last summer and for days afterwards I couldn't stop thinking about the Alton family. They all felt so real to me, particularly Amber and Momma. I was an emotional wreck after reading the final page. Absolutely brilliant. I can't wait to read her next book.
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The Choice 33385040
'Absolutely loved this book!' Susan Lewis, bestselling author of One Minute Later

For fans of The Guilty Mother by Diane Jeffrey and The Silent Ones by K. L. Slater, The Choice is a hypnotic suspense debut that explores the terrifying Sophie's Choice What if you had to choose between your children?



Madeleine lived for her children. She'd always believed she'd die for them too. But on the morning of her twins' tenth birthday her love was put to the test when a killer knocked on their door and forced her to make a devastating which child should live, and which should die - her son, or her daughter ?



Madeleine stands silent on the periphery of her fractured family, trying desperately to unravel why her world was so suddenly blown apart. But as memories of everything leading up to that tragic day return in agonising flashes, she begins to realise her family's life still hangs terrifyingly in the balance...

'Astonishing' Karen Dionne

'Nail-biting' Saskia Sarginson

'Amazing' Susan Lewis

'Tense' Claire Douglas

'Brilliant' Lisa Hall

'Mind-twisting' Alex Caan

'Exceptional' Claire Allan

'Enthralling' Liz Loves Books

'Devastating' Eleanor Moran

'Addictive' Netgalley reviewer

***Pre-order Samantha King's gripping new novel, The Sleepover , now***]]>
336 Samantha King 0349414653 Claire 5 3.56 The Choice
author: Samantha King
name: Claire
average rating: 3.56
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/22
date added: 2016/12/22
shelves:
review:
I've read some brilliant books this year and this is up there with the best. A taunt, beautifully written psychological thriller about a mother made to choose between her ten-year-old twins when a gunman turns up at their door. I don't want to say too much about it as to do so would spoil it, I think. But I can see it being huge for 2017. A really, really great read with lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Despite finishing it a few days ago I'm still thinking about the characters and the plot. Very clever, very compelling. Highly recommended!
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One Little Mistake 32877155
YOU TRUSTED YOUR BEST FRIEND . . . YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE.

Vicky Seagrave is blessed: three beautiful children, a successful, doting husband, great friends and a job she loves. She should be perfectly happy.

When she makes a split-second decision that risks everything she holds dear, there's only person she trusts enough to turn to.

But Vicky is about to learn that one mistake is all it takes; that if you're careless with those you love, you don't deserve to keep them . . .]]>
443 Emma Curtis Claire 5 4.00 2016 One Little Mistake
author: Emma Curtis
name: Claire
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/16
date added: 2016/12/06
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Rattle (The Bone Collector, #1)]]> 32079765
A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter.

He has planned well. He leads two lives. In one he's just like anyone else. But in the other he is the caretaker of his family's macabre museum.

Now the time has come to add to his collection. He is ready to feed his obsession, and he is on the hunt.

Jakey Frith and Clara Foyle have something in common. They have what he needs.

What begins is a terrifying cat-and-mouse game between the sinister collector, Jakey's father and Etta Fitzroy, a troubled detective investigating a spate of abductions.

Set in London's Blackheath, Rattle by Fiona Cummins explores the seam of darkness that runs through us all; the struggle between light and shadow, redemption and revenge.

It is a glimpse into the mind of a sinister psychopath. And it's also a story about not giving up hope when it seems that all hope is already lost.]]>
486 Fiona Cummins 1509812261 Claire 0 to-read 3.74 2017 Rattle (The Bone Collector, #1)
author: Fiona Cummins
name: Claire
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Escape 32790943
"Look after your daughter's things. And your daughter�"

When a stranger asks Jo Blackmore for a lift she says yes, then swiftly wishes she hadn't.

The stranger knows Jo's name, she knows her husband Max and she's got a glove belonging to Jo's two year old daughter Elise.

What begins with a subtle threat swiftly turns into a nightmare as the police, social services and even Jo's own husband turn against her.

No one believes that Elise is in danger. But Jo knows there's only one way to keep her child safe � RUN.

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434 C.L. Taylor Claire 0 to-read 3.86 2017 The Escape
author: C.L. Taylor
name: Claire
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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Hold Back The Stars 26804769 One Day and Gravity, a man and a woman revisit memories of their love affair on a utopian Earth while they are trapped in the vast void of space with only ninety minutes of oxygen left.

After the catastrophic destruction of the Middle East and the United States, Europe has become a utopia and, every three years, the European population must rotate into different multicultural communities, living as individuals responsible for their own actions. While living in this paradise, Max meets Carys and immediately feels a spark of attraction. He quickly realizes, however, that Carys is someone he might want to stay with long-term, which is impossible in this new world.

As their relationship plays out, the connections between their time on Earth and their present dilemma in space become clear. When their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation—but who will take it? An original and daring exploration of the impact of first love and how the choices we make can change the fate of everyone around us, this is an unforgettable read.]]>
304 Katie Khan 0857524003 Claire 5 3.50 2017 Hold Back The Stars
author: Katie Khan
name: Claire
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2016/11/28
date added: 2016/11/28
shelves:
review:
Wow what a wonderful book this is! I completely fell for Carys and Max and believed in them totally. The love that they have for one another felt so realistic, so fleshed out, warts and all. While they are suspended in space they look back on how they fell in love and what leads them to the predicament they are in at the beginning of the story. The future world that Katie Khan has built feels like it could happen and I was immersed in it. The ending is so beautiful and had me in tears. I think this is going to be huge for 2017 and deservedly so. Highly recommended!
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Minty 21900757 388 Christina Banach 1910153028 Claire 5
The writing is beautiful and the story is told with such depth of feeling, yet isn't depressing but life affirming and uplifting (even though I did cry. A lot!) I'd highly recommend this to everyone.

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4.22 2014 Minty
author: Christina Banach
name: Claire
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/11/21
shelves:
review:
This is one of the most moving books I have read about death, loss and dealing with grief. The beginning of the book, when teenage girl Minty dies trying to rescue her dog, is so realistic, so gut-wrenching and tense that I was immediately pulled into the story. The novel is told from Minty's point of view, as she's stuck in the afterlife, having to watch her family's grief and the guilt that her twin sister, Jess feels at not being able to save her. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about this story. I read it months ago and it has still stayed with me. The characters are so real, I felt like I knew Minty, Jess, Jack, their friends and family.

The writing is beautiful and the story is told with such depth of feeling, yet isn't depressing but life affirming and uplifting (even though I did cry. A lot!) I'd highly recommend this to everyone.


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Everything but the Truth 32599702 Just how much can you trust the person you love?

Everything but the Truth is Gillian McAllister's stunning breakthrough thriller about deceit, betrayal and one woman's compulsive need to uncover the truth.

It all started with the email.

Rachel didn't even mean to look. She loves Jack and she's pregnant with their child. She trusts him.

But now she's seen it, she can't undo that moment. Or the chain of events it has set in motion.

Why has Jack been lying about his past? Just what exactly is he hiding? And doesn't Rachel have a right to know the truth at any cost?]]>
394 Gillian McAllister 1405928263 Claire 5 3.47 2017 Everything but the Truth
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Claire
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/10/26
shelves:
review:

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Woman of the Hour 27914837
Liz Lyon is Head of Features at StoryWorld TV. It's exhilarating and sometimes glamorous work, but as a single mother with a demanding career, her life is a constant balancing act.

Then simmering tensions erupt at the station, trapping Liz in a web of rivalry, manipulation and deceit. If she trusts the wrong person, she could lose her job. But with everything she thought she knew crumbling around her, can she even trust herself?

A twisty drama of secrets and lies in a London TV station, this is the first book in the StoryWorld series from the acclaimed author of The Lie Of You.]]>
198 Jane Lythell 1784971200 Claire 5 ]]> 3.42 Woman of the Hour
author: Jane Lythell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.42
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/04
date added: 2016/09/04
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed Woman of the Hour. Although different to the author's previous books it is just as compelling. The story centres around a daytime television studio called StoryWorld and is written in such an authentic way I wasn't surprised to find out Jane Lythell has experience working in this field. I loved the main character, Liz. She's level headed at work but her personal life is a different story as she juggles single motherhood with such a full on job. Jane Lythell writes the comparison very cleverly by having Liz narrate sections entitled home and work, making her a well rounded character. I loved all the day to day drama that Liz has to deal with working at the station. The characters were wonderfully colourful - some with huge egos and some who you love to hate! But I also enjoyed reading about Liz's private life, her battles with her ex-husband and her teenage daughter. As the story progressed I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what secrets and lies some of the characters were keeping. I can't wait to read the next book in the StoryWorld series.

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Good Me, Bad Me 25365530
How far does the apple really fall from the tree?

Milly's mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school.

But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother's trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all.

When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother's daughter.]]>
338 Ali Land 0718182928 Claire 5
I was very lucky to receive a proof of Good Me, Bad Me. I'd been hearing about it a lot and was desperate to read it. It's a story about Annie who has changed her name to Milly and is living a new life with a new family after her mother goes on trial for murdering young children. Dubbed the Peter Pan Killer, Milly's mother is all over the front pages of the national news. Milly doesn't want to be like her mother, she so desperately wants to be good. But can she be? Or is she her mother's daughter?

Ali Land has a beautiful, lyrical writing style that pulls you in from the first page. Milly's voice is so distinctive, she gets right under your skin. I couldn't stop thinking about her after I'd turned the last page. I felt so many different emotions when reading this book; sick, tense, scared, sad. You want to root for Milly, especially when events take a dark turn at her new school, but at the same time you have this sense of dread.

I don't want to say any more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. But I really do highly recommend this. It's one of those books that, once finished, you'll be desperate to talk about. ]]>
3.84 2017 Good Me, Bad Me
author: Ali Land
name: Claire
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2016/06/01
date added: 2016/08/03
shelves:
review:
Sometimes a book comes along that is just ... special. It's hard to determine exactly why but, for me, this was one such book!

I was very lucky to receive a proof of Good Me, Bad Me. I'd been hearing about it a lot and was desperate to read it. It's a story about Annie who has changed her name to Milly and is living a new life with a new family after her mother goes on trial for murdering young children. Dubbed the Peter Pan Killer, Milly's mother is all over the front pages of the national news. Milly doesn't want to be like her mother, she so desperately wants to be good. But can she be? Or is she her mother's daughter?

Ali Land has a beautiful, lyrical writing style that pulls you in from the first page. Milly's voice is so distinctive, she gets right under your skin. I couldn't stop thinking about her after I'd turned the last page. I felt so many different emotions when reading this book; sick, tense, scared, sad. You want to root for Milly, especially when events take a dark turn at her new school, but at the same time you have this sense of dread.

I don't want to say any more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. But I really do highly recommend this. It's one of those books that, once finished, you'll be desperate to talk about.
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<![CDATA[The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)]]> 28187230 341 Ruth Ware 1501132938 Claire 4 3.73 2016 The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Claire
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/01
date added: 2016/08/01
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Unseeing: A twisting tale of family secrets]]> 27245142 Set in London in 1837, Anna Mazzola's THE UNSEEING is the story of Sarah Gale, a seamstress and mother, sentenced to hang for her role in the murder of Hannah Brown on the eve of her wedding. Perfect for any reader of Sarah Waters or Antonia Hodgson.

'With this intricately woven tale of trust, self-trust and deceit, Anna Mazzola brings a gritty realism to Victorian London. Beautifully written and cleverly plotted, this is a stunning debut, ranked amongst the best' MANDA SCOTT

After Sarah petitions for mercy, Edmund Fleetwood is appointed to investigate and consider whether justice has been done. Idealistic, but struggling with his own demons, Edmund is determined to seek out the truth. Yet Sarah refuses to help him, neither lying nor adding anything to the evidence gathered in court. Edmund knows she's hiding something, but needs to discover just why she's maintaining her silence. For how can it be that someone would willingly go to their own death?]]>
368 Anna Mazzola 1472234731 Claire 0 to-read 3.76 2016 The Unseeing: A twisting tale of family secrets
author: Anna Mazzola
name: Claire
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/07/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Devil's Work 29542910 A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Follow You Home and The Magpies.

It was the job she had dreamed of since childhood. But on her very first day, when an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie Greenwood would rather forget, she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake.

What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie’s predecessor? When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.

As her life begins to fall apart at work and at home, Sophie must race to uncover the truth about her new job…before it kills her.]]>
374 Mark Edwards 1503938182 Claire 0 to-read 4.04 2016 The Devil's Work
author: Mark Edwards
name: Claire
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/06/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Watcher 29482719 She’s watching you, but who’s watching her?

Lily Gullick lives with her husband Aiden in a new-build flat opposite an estate which has been marked for demolition. A keen birdwatcher, she can’t help spying on her neighbours.

Until one day Lily sees something suspicious through her binoculars and soon her elderly neighbour Jean is found dead. Lily, intrigued by the social divide in her local area as it becomes increasingly gentrified, knows that she has to act. But her interference is not going unnoticed, and as she starts to get close to the truth, her own life comes under threat.

But can Lily really trust everything she sees?

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370 Ross Armstrong 0008181187 Claire 5 2.95 2017 The Watcher
author: Ross Armstrong
name: Claire
average rating: 2.95
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/06/07
shelves:
review:
This was such an eerie, atmospheric book. Set around a new estate that's being built next to one that is due to be demolished, birdwatching Lily becomes convinced that a woman has been murdered. It reminded me of Rear Window and is very Hitchcockian, but also up to date. It also reminded me a little of J G Ballard. Very unsettling. Lily is writing a journal of her findings, and they become more erratic as her obsession with finding out the truth grows. By the end of it I was mistrusting everyone in all the buildings, even Lily herself. Highly recommend this dark, psychological thriller.
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Alys, Always 17059039 They have everything she wants...

Frances is a thirty-something lowly sub-editor, but her routine, colourless existence is disrupted one winter evening when she happens upon the aftermath of a car crash and hears the last words of the driver, Alys Kyte.

When Alys's family makes contact in an attempt to find closure, Frances is given a tantalising glimpse of a very different world: one of privilege and possibility. The relationships she builds with the Kytes will have an impact on her own life, both professionally and personally, as Frances dares to wonder whether she might now become a player in her own right ...

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213 Harriet Lane 1780220014 Claire 0 3.29 2012 Alys, Always
author: Harriet Lane
name: Claire
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/06/06
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The Girls 26893819 355 Emma Cline 081299860X Claire 0 to-read 3.48 2016 The Girls
author: Emma Cline
name: Claire
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/06/06
shelves: to-read
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Lie With Me 29636224 And the next thing you know, you're having dinner at their house, and accepting an invitation to join them on holiday - swept up in their perfect life, the kind you always dreamed of...

Which turns out to be less than perfect. But by the time you're trapped and sweating in the relentless Greek sun, burning to escape the tension all around you - by the time you start to realise that, however painful the truth might be, it's the lies that cause the real damage...

... well, by then, it could just be too late.

Longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year

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293 Sabine Durrant 1473608337 Claire 5 3.61 2016 Lie With Me
author: Sabine Durrant
name: Claire
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2016/05/06
date added: 2016/05/06
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How To Make A Friend 23770310 Have you ever thought someone was watching you . . . but there was no one there?

One summer’s evening, Alice sees something out of the corner of her eye. She turns to look: just a trick of the light. She is no longer the lonely little girl she once was, with her games of make-believe and imaginary friend, Sam.

Then Alice’s world is shattered in a tragic accident, and Sam creeps out of the shadows and back into her life. At first Alice is comforted by his presence: a best friend to help fill the void in her heart. Perhaps even help her find someone real to share her life with.

But Alice and Sam know he can only exist if she wants him there. So when Alice decides it’s time for him to leave, who will get hurt in order for him to stay alive?

A compelling novel that fans of page-turners such as Claire Mackintosh's I LET YOU GO and S. K. Tremayne's THE ICE TWINS will be gripped by.]]>
432 Fleur Smithwick 0552779784 Claire 5 3.66 2015 How To Make A Friend
author: Fleur Smithwick
name: Claire
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/04/13
shelves:
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This was such a clever, compelling and surprisingly dark story about loneliness, grief and guilt. The premise of an imaginary friend (or is he?) who might actually be murderous and is definitely sinister is so original. Beautifully written, I was really moved by the narrator, Alice. You could see why she would want an imaginary friend after her upbringing. And what an ending! A brilliant story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended.
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How to Be Brave 25617548
When nine-year-old Rose is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Natalie must use her imagination to keep her daughter alive. They begin dreaming about and seeing a man in a brown suit who feels hauntingly familiar, a man who has something for them. Through the magic of storytelling, Natalie and Rose are transported to the Atlantic Ocean in 1943, to a lifeboat, where an ancestor survived for fifty days before being rescued. Poignant, beautifully written and tenderly told, How To Be Brave weaves together the contemporary story of a mother battling to save her child’s life with an extraordinary true account of bravery and a fight for survival in the Second World War. A simply unforgettable debut that celebrates the power of words, the redemptive energy of a mother’s love � and what it really means to be brave.]]>
300 Louise Beech Claire 0 to-read 4.26 2015 How to Be Brave
author: Louise Beech
name: Claire
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[An Unfamiliar Murder (DCI Helen Lavery #1)]]> 28688408
Leading her first murder enquiry, DCI Helen Lavery unravels a trail of deception, family secrets and betrayal. When people close to the Cottrell family start to disappear, Lavery is forced into a race against time. Can she catch the killer before he executes his ultimate victim?]]>
398 Jane Isaac Claire 0 to-read 3.86 2014 An Unfamiliar Murder (DCI Helen Lavery #1)
author: Jane Isaac
name: Claire
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/03/08
shelves: to-read
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In Her Wake 25914145
A tragic family event reveals devastating news that rips apart Bella’s comfortable existence. Embarking on a personal journey to uncover the truth, she faces a series of traumatic discoveries that take her to the ruggedly beautiful Cornish coast, where hidden truths, past betrayals and a 25-year-old mystery threaten not just her identity, but also her life.

Chilling, complex and profoundly moving, In Her Wake is a gripping psychological thriller that questions the nature of family � and reminds us that sometimes the most shocking crimes are committed closest to home.]]>
320 Amanda Jennings 1910633291 Claire 5 3.88 2016 In Her Wake
author: Amanda Jennings
name: Claire
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2016/02/21
date added: 2016/02/23
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The Woman Who Ran 26842491
Helen Graham is a new arrival in a tiny Yorkshire village, renting dilapidated Wildfell Hall. The villagers are intensely curious - what makes her so jumpy and why is she so evasive? Their interest is Helen's worst nightmare. Looking over her shoulder every day, she tries to piece together her past before it can catch up with her. With everything she knows in fragments, from her marriage to her career as a war photographer, how can she work out who to trust and what to believe? Most days she can barely remember who she is...]]>
384 Sam Baker 0007464355 Claire 5 3.30 2016 The Woman Who Ran
author: Sam Baker
name: Claire
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2016/01/21
date added: 2016/01/21
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The Day I Lost You 26198481 When Jess’s daughter, Anna, is reported lost in an avalanche, everything changes.

Left to explain her mother’s absence to Anna’s five-year-old daughter, Rose, Jess isn’t yet ready to admit to herself that her daughter might not be coming back. But Anna’s disappearance dredges up some life changing questions: Jess must uncover her daughter’s secret life � and unearth a secret that changes her world irrevocably.

The day I lost you was the day I discovered your secret life.
The day I lost you was the day you tore our family apart.
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400 Fionnuala Kearney 0008116598 Claire 0 to-read 3.88 2016 The Day I Lost You
author: Fionnuala Kearney
name: Claire
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/01/15
shelves: to-read
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The Beauty of the End 27405541 The Bones of You comes a haunting and heartbreaking new psychological thriller about a man thrust into the middle of a murder investigation, forced to confront the secrets of his ex-lover's past.

"I was fourteen when I fell in love with a goddess. . ."

So begins the testimony of Noah Calaway, an ex-lawyer with a sideline in armchair criminal psychology. Now living an aimless life in an inherited cottage in the English countryside, Noah is haunted by the memory of the beguiling young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years earlier. Then one day he receives a troubling phone call. April, the woman he once loved, lies in a coma, the victim of an apparent overdose--and the lead suspect in a brutal murder. Deep in his bones, Noah believes that April is innocent. Then again, he also believed they would spend the rest of their lives together.

While Noah searches for evidence that will clear April's name, a teenager named Ella begins to sift through the secrets of her own painful family history. The same age as April was when Noah first met her, Ella harbors a revelation that could be the key to solving the murder. As the two stories converge, there are shocking consequences when at last, the truth emerges.

Or so everyone believes. . .

Set in a borderland where the past casts its shadow on the present, with a time-shifting narrative that will mesmerize and surprise, The Beauty of the End is both a masterpiece of suspense and a powerful rumination on lost love.]]>
320 Debbie Howells 149670598X Claire 5
Noah can't believe that the April he once knew and loved is a murderer so he vows to prove her innocence. But in doing so he is forced to revisit the past and the part he played in April's life.

The novel was so gripping that I was awake until the early hours of the morning desperately turning the pages to see what would happen at the end. There are lots of twists, turns and secrets. Who is this man that April is accused of killing? Did she do it or was she set up? Why did Will and Noah fall out? And who is Ella, a fifteen year old with her own story to tell? It all leads to a shocking conclusion that had me guessing until the final pages. Highly recommended!


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3.55 2016 The Beauty of the End
author: Debbie Howells
name: Claire
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/01/11
shelves:
review:
I was incredibly lucky to get the chance to read a proof and after loving the author's first book, The Bones of You, I was very excited to get started. This is another beautifully written, gripping novel, this time about lawyer-turned-writer, Noah, who receives a call to say that the woman he once loved, the beautiful, enigmatic April Moon, is in a coma after trying to take her own life. The call is from his once best friend, Will, a successful surgeon, who tells Noah that evidence points to her killing a man before she tried to commit suicide.

Noah can't believe that the April he once knew and loved is a murderer so he vows to prove her innocence. But in doing so he is forced to revisit the past and the part he played in April's life.

The novel was so gripping that I was awake until the early hours of the morning desperately turning the pages to see what would happen at the end. There are lots of twists, turns and secrets. Who is this man that April is accused of killing? Did she do it or was she set up? Why did Will and Noah fall out? And who is Ella, a fifteen year old with her own story to tell? It all leads to a shocking conclusion that had me guessing until the final pages. Highly recommended!



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The Darkest Secret 26196106 My goddaughter, Coco Jackson, disappeared from her family's holiday home in Bournemouth on the night of Sunday/Monday August 29/30th, the bank holiday weekend just gone. Coco is three years old.

When identical twin Coco goes missing during a family celebration, there is a media frenzy. Her parents are rich and influential, as are the friends they were with at their holiday home by the sea.
But what really happened to Coco?

Over two intense weekends - the first when Coco goes missing and the second twelve years later at the funeral of her father - the darkest of secrets will gradually be revealed...

Taut, emotive and utterly compelling, The Darkest Secret is an unputdownable 'ripped from the headlines' novel that you will want to talk about with everyone you know.]]>
329 Alex Marwood 140552121X Claire 0 to-read 3.68 2016 The Darkest Secret
author: Alex Marwood
name: Claire
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/01/03
shelves: to-read
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Every Last One 7468160
In this breathtaking and beautiful novel, the #1 New York Times" bestselling author Anna Quindlen creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.

Mary Beth Latham has built her life around her family, around caring for her three teenage children and preserving the rituals of their daily life. When one of her sons becomes depressed, Mary Beth focuses on him, only to be blindsided by a shocking act of violence. What happens afterwards is a testament to the power of a woman's love and determination, and to the invisible lines of hope and healing that connect one human being with another. Ultimately, as rendered in Anna Quindlen's mesmerizing prose, Every Last One" is a novel about facing every last one of the things we fear most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel, and about living a life we never dreamed we'd have to live, but find ourselves brave enough to try.]]>
299 Anna Quindlen 1400065747 Claire 5 3.85 2010 Every Last One
author: Anna Quindlen
name: Claire
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/11/23
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The Summer of Secrets 23590488 One day she was there . . .
and the next day, the day after the fire, she was gone.

In the summer of 1983, when Helen is sixteen, Victoria Dover and her eccentric family move in next door, at once making her lonely world a more thrilling place. But the summer ends with a terrible tragedy, and everyone involved � her father and the entire Dover family � simply disappears.

Then one day, thirty years later, Victoria comes back.

A suspenseful, spell-binding coming-of-age story about young friendship, damaged families and how one simple action on a long, sultry summer can echo through the years. Perfect for fans of Louise Doughty's Apple Tree Yard, Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret and Helen Dunmore's The Lie.]]>
352 Sarah Jasmon 0552779970 Claire 5 ]]> 3.51 2015 The Summer of Secrets
author: Sarah Jasmon
name: Claire
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/10/19
date added: 2015/10/27
shelves:
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I really enjoyed this beautifully written, poignant, coming of age story about an unforgettable summer in the early 1980s. A summer that has an impact on Helen and her life over thirty years later. She's lonely and bored when she first meets Victoria and soon becomes enraptured by her and her bohemian family. But are they hiding something? The story simmers along so that you get a sense of long summer days spent by the canals, of first crushes and first heartbreaks until its tragic end that had me in tears. I think Sarah Jasmon writes such well drawn characters that I couldn't stop thinking about them long after I had finished the novel. Highly recommended and I look forward to her next.

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The Missing 26224258 You love your family. They make you feel safe. You trust them. Or do you�?

When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire Wilkinson, is consumed with guilt—blaming herself for his disappearance. She’s not alone in her feelings of guilt; not a single member of Billy’s family escapes the burden. The Wilkinson family is so accustomed to keeping secrets from one another, however, that it isn't until six months later, after a public appeal for information goes horribly wrong, that the truth begins to surface.

Claire is certain of two things: first, that Billy is still alive, and second, that her friends and family had nothing to do with his disappearance.

A mother’s instinct is never wrong. Or is it?]]>
499 C.L. Taylor Claire 0 to-read 3.81 2016 The Missing
author: C.L. Taylor
name: Claire
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/10/05
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Last Letter from Your Lover]]> 10163292 A sophisticated, page-turning double love story spanning forty years-an unforgettable Brief Encounter for our times.

It is 1960. When Jennifer Stirling wakes up in the hospital, she can remember nothing-not the tragic car accident that put her there, not her husband, not even who she is. She feels like a stranger in her own life until she stumbles upon an impassioned letter, signed simply "B", asking her to leave her husband.

Years later, in 2003, a journalist named Ellie discovers the same enigmatic letter in a forgotten file in her newspaper's archives. She becomes obsessed by the story and hopeful that it can resurrect her faltering career. Perhaps if these lovers had a happy ending she will find one to her own complicated love life, too. Ellie's search will rewrite history and help her see the truth about her own modern romance.

A spellbinding, intoxicating love story with a knockout ending, The Last Letter from Your Lover will appeal to the readers who have made One Day and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society bestsellers.

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390 Jojo Moyes 0670022802 Claire 5 3.94 2011 The Last Letter from Your Lover
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Claire
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/09/09
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Five Go Glamping 25618997
Festival tickets
Double check best Instagram filter
Avoid thinking about work/Connor/five year plan!!

A four day break from her hectic life to relax in the countryside and hang out at a local festival (for free!) is just what Fiona Delaney needs. With her best friends, great tunes and a cool looking hat her Instagram shots are going to look A-Mazing!

Until suddenly glamping starts to feel a lot more like camping and Fiona’s in desperate search of a comfy chair, wi-fi and a chilled glass of wine. But when she finally makes it to the local pub she discovers this trip could be more than just a holiday, it might just change her life forever…]]>
0 Liz Tipping 1474036511 Claire 5 This is a hilarious, warm book with characters you truly care about. They are so well rounded and real that I felt like I knew them. In fact, I want them as my friends! I raced through the pages to find out what happened as I was so swept along with Fiona and her story. Liz Tipping's writing style is so fresh and witty that the story just flowed. The ending was so perfect that I was left with a warm glow after I turned the last pages. A fantastic, fun, feel-good summer read. Highly recommended!]]> 3.78 2015 Five Go Glamping
author: Liz Tipping
name: Claire
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/08/27
shelves:
review:
This is the first book I have read for ages that made me laugh out loud. It held my attention from the very first page and I became quickly invested in Fiona and her quest to live her life to her five year plan, which includes working most Saturdays at her dead end job so that she can buy a place with her boyfriend Connor. When she goes glamping in a yurt with her three friends, Sinead, Steph and Kirk (and Kirk's dog called Brian Harvey who is one of my favourite characters in a book ever!) things go awry. Especially when she meets the gorgeous Sam!
This is a hilarious, warm book with characters you truly care about. They are so well rounded and real that I felt like I knew them. In fact, I want them as my friends! I raced through the pages to find out what happened as I was so swept along with Fiona and her story. Liz Tipping's writing style is so fresh and witty that the story just flowed. The ending was so perfect that I was left with a warm glow after I turned the last pages. A fantastic, fun, feel-good summer read. Highly recommended!
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Follow You Home 24833801
After a perfect start, Daniel and Laura’s travels end abruptly when they are thrown off a night train in the middle of nowhere. To find their way back to civilisation, they must hike along the tracks through a forest…a haunting journey that ends in unimaginable terror.

Back in London, Daniel and Laura vow never to talk about what they saw that night. But as they try to fit back into their old lives, it becomes clear that their nightmare is just beginning�

Follow You Home is a chilling tale of secrets, lies and deadly consequences from the author of #1 bestsellers The Magpies and Because She Loves Me.]]>
381 Mark Edwards 1503944379 Claire 5 3.76 2015 Follow You Home
author: Mark Edwards
name: Claire
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/26
date added: 2015/07/26
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You, Me and Other People 24962805 You, Me and Other People is the life-affirming, heartbreaking and ultimately stunning debut novel from Fionnuala Kearney.

They Say Every Family Has Skeletons In Their Closet . . .

But what happens when you open the door and they won’t stop tumbling out?

For Adam and Beth the first secret wasn’t the last, it was just the beginning. You think you can imagine the worst thing that could happen to your family, but there are some secrets that change everything. And then the question is, how can you piece together a future when your past is being rewritten?

For fans of Liane Moriarty, Jojo Moyes and David Nicholls.]]>
432 Fionnuala Kearney 000759397X Claire 5
This is a clever, honest, emotional tale of how both Beth and Adam cope after he cheats on her and she ends their marriage. The story is told from both Beth and Adam's point of view and as a result has depth and is layered so that the characters didn't fall into the 'good' vs 'bad' category. Instead each character has flaws and feel human rather than caricatures. I started off really disliking Adam, but as the story progressed I began to feel sorry for him and I even began to root for him at the end. Even the secondary characters, like Karen, Ben, Meg and Noah felt real. I don't want to say too much without giving it away as there are many surprises in store. The story took turns that I definitely wasn't expecting! A well written, sad, funny and touching debut. Highly recommended. ]]>
3.57 2015 You, Me and Other People
author: Fionnuala Kearney
name: Claire
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/23
date added: 2015/07/23
shelves:
review:
An astonishing debut novel!

This is a clever, honest, emotional tale of how both Beth and Adam cope after he cheats on her and she ends their marriage. The story is told from both Beth and Adam's point of view and as a result has depth and is layered so that the characters didn't fall into the 'good' vs 'bad' category. Instead each character has flaws and feel human rather than caricatures. I started off really disliking Adam, but as the story progressed I began to feel sorry for him and I even began to root for him at the end. Even the secondary characters, like Karen, Ben, Meg and Noah felt real. I don't want to say too much without giving it away as there are many surprises in store. The story took turns that I definitely wasn't expecting! A well written, sad, funny and touching debut. Highly recommended.
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In a Dark, Dark Wood 23346377 What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller.

Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself.

When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.]]>
352 Ruth Ware 1846558913 Claire 0 to-read 3.65 2015 In a Dark, Dark Wood
author: Ruth Ware
name: Claire
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/07/20
shelves: to-read
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The Blue 25656829 What would they do to keep it?
With a quick spin of the globe, Kitty and Lana
escape their grey reality and journey to the Philippines.
There they discover The Blue � a beautiful yacht,
with a wandering crew.

They spend day after languorous day exploring the pristine
white beaches and swimming beneath the stars, and Lana
drifts further away from the long-buried secrets of home.

But the tide turns when death creeps quietly on deck.

A dangerous swell of mistrust and lies threatens to bring
the crew’s adventures to an end � but some won’t
let paradise go…whatever the price.]]>
391 Lucy Clarke 0007563361 Claire 0 to-read 3.98 2015 The Blue
author: Lucy Clarke
name: Claire
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/07/17
shelves: to-read
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When God Was a Rabbit 8874743 When God was a Rabbit is an incredibly exciting debut from an extraordinary new voice in fiction.

Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.]]>
325 Sarah Winman 0755379284 Claire 4 3.74 2011 When God Was a Rabbit
author: Sarah Winman
name: Claire
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/07/13
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<![CDATA[We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves]]> 16176440
Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, Lowell, Rosemary and her unusual sister Fern. Rosemary begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. “Until Fern’s expulsion...,� Rosemary says, “she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her.� As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence.

In We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date—a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.]]>
310 Karen Joy Fowler 0399162097 Claire 3 3.70 2013 We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
author: Karen Joy Fowler
name: Claire
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2015/05/06
date added: 2015/07/10
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Song of the Sea Maid 24728233
Against the conventions of the day, and to the alarm of her male contemporaries, she sets sail to Portugal to develop her theories. There she makes some startling discoveries - not only in an ancient cave whose secrets hint at a previously undiscovered civilisation, but also in her own heart. The siren call of science is powerful, but as war approaches she finds herself pulled in another direction by feelings she cannot control.]]>
295 Rebecca Mascull 1473604354 Claire 0 to-read 3.84 2015 Song of the Sea Maid
author: Rebecca Mascull
name: Claire
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/06/29
shelves: to-read
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The Magpies (The Magpies, #1) 17726978
When Jamie and Kirsty move into their first home together they are full of optimism. The future, in which they plan to get married and start a family, is bright. The other residents of their building seem friendly too: the horror writer and the middle-aged herbalist who live upstairs, and the Newtons, a married couple who welcome them to the building with open arms.

At first, the two couples get on well. But then strange things start to happen. Dead rats are left on their doorstep. They hear disturbing noises, and much worse, in the night. After Jamie's best friend is injured in a horrific accident, Jamie and Kirsty find themselves targeted by a campaign of terror.

As Jamie and Kirsty are driven to the edge of despair, Jamie vows to fight back � but he has no idea what he is really up against�

THE MAGPIES is a terrifying psychological thriller in which the monsters are not vampires or demons but the people we live next door to. It is a nightmare that could happen to anyone.]]>
400 Mark Edwards 1483911896 Claire 4 3.73 2013 The Magpies (The Magpies, #1)
author: Mark Edwards
name: Claire
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/28
date added: 2015/06/28
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We Need to Talk About Kevin 80660 The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry.

Eva never really wanted to be a mother - and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

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400 Lionel Shriver 006112429X Claire 4 4.07 2003 We Need to Talk About Kevin
author: Lionel Shriver
name: Claire
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/06/24
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The Blind Assassin 78433 The Blind Assassin is a richly layered and uniquely rewarding experience.

It opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist.

For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The Blind Assassin proves once again that Atwood is one of the most talented, daring, and exciting writers of our time. Like The Handmaid's Tale, it is destined to become a classic.]]>
637 Margaret Atwood Claire 5 3.96 2000 The Blind Assassin
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Claire
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/06/24
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Storm Rising (The NightHawk Series 1)]]> 24820180
After attending the funeral of her estranged mother, Abigail Thomson makes a shocking discovery in her parents� attic. The still-raw memories that surface, along with even more startling discoveries, force Abi to face a devastating truth that leads to a series of life-changing events. She and Gideon must race against time to reclaim the life stolen from them a decade before.]]>
288 Rachael Richey 1628307676 Claire 0 to-read 3.95 2015 Storm Rising (The NightHawk Series 1)
author: Rachael Richey
name: Claire
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/06/23
shelves: to-read
review:

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After the Storm 23641177
Rob and Anna have only just met Owen and Kim. Now they've boarded their handsome old boat to travel to a far off island in the Caribbean.

With only the four of them on board, it should be paradise: lazy afternoons spent snorkelling; long nights enjoying the silence and solitude of the sea.

But ten days is a long time to spend with strangers. Especially when one of them carries a secret.]]>
312 Jane Lythell Claire 5
The novel centres around four characters, married couple Kim and Owen and boyfriend and girlfriend, Anna and Rob. When Anna and Rob pay to charter Owen's boat the four of them are forced together over ten days in the middle of the ocean in South America. Tensions run high, particularly between Kim and Anna, while Owen is hiding a dark secret from the newcomers, one which causes Kim to hide all the knives. As the days roll on cracks appear in all their relationships. I found this novel deliciously tense, gripping and claustrophobic and there were some scenes where my heart was racing as I wondered how they would get out of certain situations. All four characters were brilliantly drawn and felt very real to me, so much so that I missed them when I'd finished. The writing is beautiful, the descriptions of the ocean and the places they docked were very vivid. And towards the end when a woman is murdered my heart was in my mouth! The scenes in the hospital were so gripping that I couldn't put the book down. Without giving it away, the last scene was very touching that I had a lump in my throat.

This book is a slow burner in the sense it's not all shocks and horror straight away, but what results is a menacing, tense, gripping read with well rounded characters and a fantastic plot. It never once felt slow to me or laborious. I enjoyed every beautifully written word. Highly recommended.]]>
3.01 2014 After the Storm
author: Jane Lythell
name: Claire
average rating: 3.01
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/15
date added: 2015/06/15
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't what I expected at all - which was a sort of Dead Calm, and I'm relieved because this is a more sophisticated, clever story, I think.

The novel centres around four characters, married couple Kim and Owen and boyfriend and girlfriend, Anna and Rob. When Anna and Rob pay to charter Owen's boat the four of them are forced together over ten days in the middle of the ocean in South America. Tensions run high, particularly between Kim and Anna, while Owen is hiding a dark secret from the newcomers, one which causes Kim to hide all the knives. As the days roll on cracks appear in all their relationships. I found this novel deliciously tense, gripping and claustrophobic and there were some scenes where my heart was racing as I wondered how they would get out of certain situations. All four characters were brilliantly drawn and felt very real to me, so much so that I missed them when I'd finished. The writing is beautiful, the descriptions of the ocean and the places they docked were very vivid. And towards the end when a woman is murdered my heart was in my mouth! The scenes in the hospital were so gripping that I couldn't put the book down. Without giving it away, the last scene was very touching that I had a lump in my throat.

This book is a slow burner in the sense it's not all shocks and horror straight away, but what results is a menacing, tense, gripping read with well rounded characters and a fantastic plot. It never once felt slow to me or laborious. I enjoyed every beautifully written word. Highly recommended.
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The Other Child 25581195
When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high profile paediatric heart surgeon, she sees something troubled in his face, and feels instantly drawn to him. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess, single mother to nine-year-old Joe, falls pregnant, and Greg is offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston. Before she knows it, Tess is married, and relocating to the States. But life in an affluent American suburb proves anything but straightforward.

Unsettling things keep happening in the large rented house, Joe is distressed, the next-door neighbours are in crisis, and Tess is sure that someone is watching her. Greg's work is all-consuming and, as the baby's birth looms, he grows more and more unreachable. Something is very wrong, Tess knows it, and then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery . . .]]>
390 Lucy Atkins 1782069879 Claire 0 to-read 3.49 2015 The Other Child
author: Lucy Atkins
name: Claire
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/06/01
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Silent Hours 24979326
The Silent Hours follows three people whose lives are bound together, before war tears them apart:

Adeline, a mute who takes refuge in a convent, haunted by memories of her past;

Sebastian, a young Jewish banker whose love for the beautiful Isabelle will change the course of his life dramatically;

Tristin, a nine-year-old boy, whose family moves from Paris to settle in a village that is seemingly untouched by war.

Beautifully wrought, utterly compelling and with a shocking true story at its core, The Silent Hours is an unforgettable portrayal of love and loss.

Praise for The Silent Hours:

'Absorbing and - ultimately - horrifying. A gripping, fictional account of a real event in war-time France, told with a sensuous clarity. A haunting and illuminating debut novel' Wendy Wallace]]>
320 Cesca Major 1782395687 Claire 0 to-read 4.05 2015 The Silent Hours
author: Cesca Major
name: Claire
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

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I Let You Go 23125266 A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?

In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .]]>
371 Clare Mackintosh 0751554154 Claire 5 4.04 2014 I Let You Go
author: Clare Mackintosh
name: Claire
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/05/25
shelves:
review:
I read this book in two days, it was so brilliant I couldn't put it down. The twist is a true gasp out loud moment! I was desperate to try and guess it but I couldn't. Fabulous. By turns sad, shocking, touching. Highly recommended.
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The Lodger 20613562
Dorothy exists just above the poverty line, doing secretarial work at a dentist's surgery and living in a seedy boarding house in Bloomsbury, when she is invited to spend the weekend with a childhood friend. Jane recently married a writer who is hovering on the brink of fame. His name is H.G. Wells, or Bertie as he is known to friends.

Bertie appears unremarkable at first. But then Dorothy notices his grey-blue eyes taking her in, openly signalling approval. He tells her he and Jane have an agreement which allows them the freedom to take lovers, although Dorothy is not convinced her friend is happy with this arrangement.

Not wanting to betray Jane, yet unable to draw back, Dorothy free-falls into an affair with Bertie. Then a new boarder arrives at the house—striking unconventional Veronica Leslie-Jones, determined to live life on her own terms—and Dorothy finds herself caught between Veronica and Bertie. Amidst the personal dramas and wreckage of the militant suffragette movement, Dorothy finds her voice as a writer.

The Lodger is a beautifully intimate novel that is at once an introduction to one of the most important writers of the 20th century and a compelling story of one woman tormented by unconventional desires.]]>
272 Louisa Treger 1250051932 Claire 5 Before reading The Lodger I hadn't heard much about Dorothy Richardson � a modernist writer and contemporary of Virginia Woolf as well as lover to H.G.Wells. But this novel manages to successfully weave fiction and fact together to tell a story of what her life was like in the turn of the 20th Century, and how and why she became a writer. The author successfully tells a gripping story of the poverty Dorothy faces in grimy, foggy London, living in a boarding house with some colourful characters and never having very much money. When she goes to stay with an old school friend Jane she becomes enraptured with her husband, Bertie (H.G Wells). They live in a beautiful country house with no money worries and being with the couple helps Dorothy forget her own poverty and hunger for a while. But when her feelings for Bertie are reciprocated she flees back to London, eaten up with guilt at what she's doing to her oldest friend.
Back in London Dorothy is unhappy and pines for Bertie. When he turns up outside her lodgings and declares his feelings for her they begin an affair, meeting up in tatty hotel rooms, hidden away from society due to Bertie's fear of a scandal. Dorothy, who resisted getting married to the men who had asked because she wanted to keep her freedom, begins to realise that she is still being stifled and, in some ways, controlled by a man.
When she meets a new lodger, the beautiful, capacious Veronica, a suffragette, she realises what it's like to feel true physical passion. But their love also has to be hidden away, due to the nature of the times.
I really enjoyed this novel, it reminded me of Sarah Waters The Paying Guests in some ways (a novel that I loved); the lodging house, the romance between two women, the intensity of wanting to be free but being constrained by the times. The author's writing is beautiful and gripping and I wanted to turn the pages to find out what happened to Dorothy, Veronica and Bertie. Highly recommended.]]>
3.27 2014 The Lodger
author: Louisa Treger
name: Claire
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2015/05/20
date added: 2015/05/20
shelves:
review:

Before reading The Lodger I hadn't heard much about Dorothy Richardson � a modernist writer and contemporary of Virginia Woolf as well as lover to H.G.Wells. But this novel manages to successfully weave fiction and fact together to tell a story of what her life was like in the turn of the 20th Century, and how and why she became a writer. The author successfully tells a gripping story of the poverty Dorothy faces in grimy, foggy London, living in a boarding house with some colourful characters and never having very much money. When she goes to stay with an old school friend Jane she becomes enraptured with her husband, Bertie (H.G Wells). They live in a beautiful country house with no money worries and being with the couple helps Dorothy forget her own poverty and hunger for a while. But when her feelings for Bertie are reciprocated she flees back to London, eaten up with guilt at what she's doing to her oldest friend.
Back in London Dorothy is unhappy and pines for Bertie. When he turns up outside her lodgings and declares his feelings for her they begin an affair, meeting up in tatty hotel rooms, hidden away from society due to Bertie's fear of a scandal. Dorothy, who resisted getting married to the men who had asked because she wanted to keep her freedom, begins to realise that she is still being stifled and, in some ways, controlled by a man.
When she meets a new lodger, the beautiful, capacious Veronica, a suffragette, she realises what it's like to feel true physical passion. But their love also has to be hidden away, due to the nature of the times.
I really enjoyed this novel, it reminded me of Sarah Waters The Paying Guests in some ways (a novel that I loved); the lodging house, the romance between two women, the intensity of wanting to be free but being constrained by the times. The author's writing is beautiful and gripping and I wanted to turn the pages to find out what happened to Dorothy, Veronica and Bertie. Highly recommended.
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