tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47594202662843321092024-03-13T11:38:21.706+00:00The Very Pink NotebookA Bookish Blog - All For The Love of Reading
Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-14458538265899749192022-02-09T12:48:00.000+00:002022-02-09T12:48:57.097+00:00Review : Hostage - Clare Mackintosh<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivC4zufyu8NtVWcbPN6fs9Hp00UPgTGq3VUD-8heY-ARAdoxrntwKtuNCA0_etfpzWz_VMoFsXq1aTBiGEK6H54CI9rXyrPFLYD7jJmmJRHmlymVEEGs_70yIesWs4d-__YVBc7AB4BmRB0-VfC_Q3Z5IJ7jtLoyeNFXlKcRnyj-GqT0Su85WGsnddWw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="325" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivC4zufyu8NtVWcbPN6fs9Hp00UPgTGq3VUD-8heY-ARAdoxrntwKtuNCA0_etfpzWz_VMoFsXq1aTBiGEK6H54CI9rXyrPFLYD7jJmmJRHmlymVEEGs_70yIesWs4d-__YVBc7AB4BmRB0-VfC_Q3Z5IJ7jtLoyeNFXlKcRnyj-GqT0Su85WGsnddWw=w241-h370" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Published By : Sphere</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">22 June 2021</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Copy : Review Purchase Signed Hardback</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;">The Blurb</span></u></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></u></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;">You can save hundreds of lives.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;">Or the one that matters most . . .</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class, and the world is watching the landmark journey.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;" /><span style="font-weight: 400;">Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers, instead of her troubled five-year-old daughter back at home - or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400;" /><span style="font-weight: 400;">But soon after the plane takes off, Mina receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination. They're demanding her cooperation . . . and they know exactly how to get it.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;" /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; font-weight: 700; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: arial; text-align: start;"><b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: arial; text-align: start;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As always I was thrilled to hear Clare Mackintosh had a new book on the publishing horizon and the excitement, and impatience, built quickly as I saw teaser after teaser and overwhelmingly positive responses filtering through social media from those lucky early recipients. As usual I ordered my copy from Clare's local bookshop <a href="http://www.awenmeirion.com">Awen Meirion</a> so I could get a signed copy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Spoiler alert - this is another cracking book from Clare so this review is going to be terribly loud and upbeat. Sorry, not sorry.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The cover immediately sets the scene - an aeroplane soaring in the sky with a house underneath - the two main settings within the book. The story is told from multiple POV's - the main is the perspective of Mina, wife to Adam, mother to Sophia and one of the lucky Flight Attendants on the inaugural London - Sydney direct flight : Flight 79. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Then from Adam, husband to Mina, father to Sophia, a Police Officer who at the time of the flight finds himself with his daughter at home. And finally what I will call 'The Others' - multiple different voices from within the aircraft. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As the book blurb reveals Mina finds herself in an airborne hijacking situation, of which she gets dramatically drawn into the heart of when she discovers the hijacker is using her family for leverage. On the ground at home her husband and daughter are in their own precarious situation made worse by the fact that Adam has been hiding his own personal drama. The narrative switches between husband and wife, both of whom have no idea what is going on with the other - but the main end point for them both is to protect their young adopted daughter - Sophia.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clare has managed to create an almost physical feeling of claustrophobia, right from the outset you know that the relationship between Mina and Adam has trust issues and then by the use of her locations and two high pressures situations. It never lets up - as a reader you feel trapped with Mina in the confines of an aircraft and then dark and cold and helpless when on the ground with Adam all the while not really trusting either of them.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The plot unravels itself as the third POV comes into play. It moves along fast and Clare weaves many of the flight passengers stories in with a clever hand, each character playing a small intricate part but feeling no less researched or structured as the main characters. I will say, there are no particularly likeable characters and in the past this has put me off of enjoying a book overall. However, I think because of the situation the characters find themselves in this actually is more realistic and adds to the novel's plausibility .</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I always find Clare's writing easy and flowing and this novel is no different. I loved that you do get a complete explanation of why the, unnamed antagonist, does the things they do and how they managed to get the situation to the point where we join the novel. This book plot ran the risk of being far fetched, but Clare see's to it that all the potential 'ah but how would this have happened / why would that have happened' questions actually get answered.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clare Mackintosh is renowned for throwing in a killer plot twist and this book does not disappoint....you do have to wait for it though.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a page turning, exhilarating, dark novel that I would highly recommend and as such receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjwy8phEPWHGeRzpGumej965e3oN4p7ZqtpTyBnYt6bVwiwYVWZS1IM5mDGAhYs_r1fna7MI3bb1lJZeSY4XqDj79OSu1DfpzI0Xn7xViTdHHsGWlJI3W45iK--zbIpkBgKg1-nwdhrR1_dj80lrwUYHM33Ha_8oYfWTGgIMvx2nfsCus_FZIZ4ZBAzg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjwy8phEPWHGeRzpGumej965e3oN4p7ZqtpTyBnYt6bVwiwYVWZS1IM5mDGAhYs_r1fna7MI3bb1lJZeSY4XqDj79OSu1DfpzI0Xn7xViTdHHsGWlJI3W45iK--zbIpkBgKg1-nwdhrR1_dj80lrwUYHM33Ha_8oYfWTGgIMvx2nfsCus_FZIZ4ZBAzg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: start;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-size: large; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span></div><br /><p></p>Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-2372022841735873812018-01-08T19:59:00.000+00:002018-01-08T19:59:42.875+00:00Review : Running for My Life - Rachel Cullen<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to share the review of </i></div>
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<b><i>Running for my Life</i></b></div>
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<i>By runner and author Rachel Cullen</i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Beth at Blink Publishing for an advance copy of the book</i></div>
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Published by : Blink Publishing</div>
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11 January 2018</div>
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Copy : Paperback received from publisher</div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Throughout her life, Rachel Cullen followed a simple yet effective route straight to mental health misery. Suffering from bipolar disorder, and hungry for approval at any price, she settled for flunked relationships, an ill-fitting career, and poor health to match. Whilst mindlessly seeking a utopian vision of 'normality' that she was mis-sold and so desperate to achieve, the solution seemed increasingly illusive.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Stuck in this endless cycle of disappointment with her life, and not knowing how to handle the strain of her mental illness, she put on a pair of old trainers. She'd never been able to think of herself as a 'runner', and the first time she forced herself out the door, she knew it would hurt. Everywhere. She just didn't realise how much it would heal her, too.</span></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Interspersed with Rachel's real diary entries, from tortuous teen years to eventually running the London Marathon, Running for my Life will make you laugh, cry and question whether you can really outrun your demons.</span></div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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Running for my Life is a rich, colourful and brutally honest account of one women's fight to beat her mental health demons. Written with candid details and dark humour this book is a journey about a quest to live life in the happiest and healthiest way possible. Chronicling all the ups and downs, the good, the bad and the downright ugly along the way.</div>
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With fantastic ditties remembering fashion disasters from her youth to the very same in winter races, the author, Rachel Cullen, lays bare the realities that subsequently have taken her on a long battle with mental health. A fight against herself. We read about what she <i>thinks</i> her life should be, to the realisation; life is <i>never</i> like what you think it is going to be. Whether in love or careers and that sometimes you just have to accept your imperfections.</div>
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What I found interesting with this life journey was Rachel seemingly did everything 'right'. But, when she thought about it - right for who? Not herself. And she had to find the strength to admit she had come to this realisation - which thankfully, she did.</div>
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The constant throughout the ever changing life Rachel? Running. Of course. In this, she found her solace, her soul-mate, her companion. Even when she felt it had all gone wrong (which in several incidences, it had). Whatever happened with running she always found herself going back for more and in doing so realised she had so many more capabilities and more strength than she ever knew. And thus, some confidence was born, confidence in herself, in her worth.</div>
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And once you have that, life becomes that little bit easier and at some point you feel you can reflect and in this case, a book was born. </div>
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Running for my Life, the journey of Rachel Cullen, receives a well deserved Very Pink Notebook :</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-79301042607431853412018-01-07T10:14:00.000+00:002018-01-07T10:44:22.642+00:00Blog Tour and Review : The Secrets Between Us by Laura Madeleine<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to launch the blog tour for the new release from Laura Madeleine</i></div>
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<i><b>The Secrets Between Us</b></i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Hannah Bright at Transworld Books for involving me in the tour.</i></div>
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Publisher : Transworld Books</div>
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ebook : 7 January 2018 / paperback 19 April 2018</div>
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Copy : Received from Hannah Bright as part of blog tour</div>
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High in the mountains in the South of France, eighteen-year-old Ceci Corvin is trying hard to carry on as normal. But in 1943, there is no such thing as normal; especially not for a young women in love with the wrong person. Scandal, it would seem, can be more dangerous to a young women than war. </div>
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Fifty years later, Annie is looking for her long-lost grandmother. Armed with nothing more than a sheaf of papers, she travels from England to Paris in pursuit of the truth. But as she traces her grandmothers story, Annie uncovers something that changes everything she knew about her family and everything she thought she knew about herself.</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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The Secrets Between Us is another sumptuous and mouth-watering offering from culinary fiction genius Laura Madeleine.</div>
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I first came across this authors work last year with 'Where The Wild Cherries Grow' and was instantly in love with her style of writing. So I was thrilled when I started The Secrets Between Us to see that her very unique style was mirrored in this book.</div>
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With the authors tried and tested format of being written in the voice of two people; Ceci set in 1943, telling the story as it happened and Annie in 1993 investigating what happened, the two weave seamlessly unveiling the tale of Celeste Corvin / Picot (Ceci) - Annie's<i> grand-mere</i> and her complicated love life of the war-torn years of 1943 in a little mountain village in the South of France.</div>
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But of course, the story is not just merely the telling of a love story. There is the side of Annie too that needs to be discovered. Annie raised by a single mother, and always left wondering about her father, whom she never knew and her long-lost<i> grand-mere</i> who she had not seen since she was a child following a fight between her mother and mothers mother, Annie is lost. With little self confidence or courage, she struggles to know who she is. By finding her<i> grand-mere</i> and forcing herself on an adventure she never thought she was brave enough to take she is finally discovering her true sense of self.</div>
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Once again, Madeleine has told a gripping and engaging story in the most gentle way by infusing the most beautiful and sense-enhancing imagery into it. This time we are tempted into this world by baking - bread of all descriptions leave you wanting to run out to the nearest baker, asking for a loaf hot out of the oven just to touch and inhale to give you the same sense of purpose as what it gives the character in the book. It is so clever - I never knew a description of<i> fougassette</i> could be made so sensual - this is the genius of Laura Madeleine.</div>
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I said in my review of Where the Wild Cherries it is rare I find a book I keep because I know it will be one I return to read again and again, but in that book I had found one. It is even rarer I find two by the same author where I will do the same. I think the Laura Madeleine collection will be that first however. </div>
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I think it is clear, I loved this book and as such it receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<b><i>If this review as enticed you into reading this book it is on a Kindle offer of 99p for the whole month of January 2018 - I advise you take advantage!</i></b></div>
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<b><u>Follow the Tour</u></b></div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-2448954122550230192018-01-02T13:06:00.002+00:002018-01-02T13:06:53.121+00:00Review : Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough<div style="text-align: center;">
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Published by : Harper Collins</div>
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26 January 2017</div>
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Copy : Hardback - Reviewer Purchase</div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">David and Adele seem like the ideal pair. He's a successful psychiatrist, she is his picture-perfect wife who adores him. But why is he so controlling? And why is she keeping things hidden?</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; font-family: &quot; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; font-family: &quot; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As Louise, David's new secretary, is drawn into their world, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong. But Louise can't guess how wrong – and how far someone might go to protect their marriage's secrets.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This book stood in my TBR pile for a while, before a tweet #thatendingWTF, sparked my attention.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Now, from some things I have read I understand this book is a little like marmite, readers are either loving or hating it. Just like marmite, I fall into the love category.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">For me, throughout the entire novel I was thinking, WTF? How? Why? What? Gripping from the outset the writing is effortless and beautifully paced. Told from two perspectives - Adele and Louise - the plot twists and turns and thickens. Some reviewers have stated they feel the author shows her hand too early, but for me I did not find that the case at all. I couldn't quite fathom out the next move or twist or 'truth' and I didn't see the conclusion coming.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #181818; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: "Merriweather","Georgia",serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">If you are someone who doesn't like reality to be messed with then maybe this book isn't for you. But if you don't mind when literally anything can happen in fiction then you are in for a corker. I thought the basic premise of the book was really quite unique.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Usually I can say I loved / hated a main character but I just can't do it with these ones. I found them engaging. And for how complex the plot and timeline is I think the author has done a sterling job of keeping it clear, concise and flowing - I would love to see the planning schedule for this! It would be difficult to elaborate more without spoilers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I can understand why this book might not be everyone's cup of tea. To be honest my initial reaction to the ending was indeed #WTF and I wasn't sure if that was in a good or bad way, but as I thought about it I felt the author was actually really brave to put it out there and be confident to take the risk and go with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So, I am certainly in camp 'Fan of this book' and as such Behind Her Eyes receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </span></div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-48971860482483090322017-11-25T16:08:00.000+00:002017-11-25T16:08:03.713+00:00Blog Tour & Review : His Guilty Secret by Helene Fermont<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of </i></div>
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<b><i>His Guilty Secret</i></b></div>
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<i>by author Helene Fermont blog tour. </i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Natalie at The Book Publicist</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Publisher : Fridhem Publishing</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">27 November 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback received from The Book Publicist for Blog Tour</span></div>
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<span id="freeText17265101184063299361">When Jacques’s body is discovered in a hotel room his wife, Patricia, suspects he has been hiding something from her.<br /><br />Why was he found naked and who is the woman that visited his grave on the day of the funeral? Significantly, who is the unnamed beneficiary Jacques left a large sum of money to in his will and what is the reason her best friend, also Jacques’s sister, Coco, refuses to tell her what he confided to her?<br /><br />Struggling to find out the truth, Patricia visits Malmö where her twin sister Jasmine lives and is married to her ex boyfriend. But the sisters relationship is toxic and when a family member dies shortly after, an old secret is revealed that shines a light on an event that took place on their tenth birthday.<br /><br />As one revelation after the other is revealed, Patricia is yet to discover her husband's biggest secret and what ultimately cost him his life.<br /><br />His Guilty Secret is an unafraid examination of the tangled bonds between siblings, the lengths we go to in protecting our wrongdoings, and the enduring psychological effects this has on the innocent...and the not so innocent.</span></div>
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I loved the settings of this book and enjoyed travelling from the UK, to Paris and Sweden. His Guilty Secret follows the story of Patricia, wife of Jacques, handsome Air France pilot who dies suddenly in a hotel room in London leaving utter devastation behind his dual-led life. Patricia, as much as she loves and was devoted to Jacques knows little things he did while he was alive didn't add up and as Jacques sister, Coco, shuts down on her when questioned she knows she must discover the truth.</div>
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The interesting thing about this book is the reader knows exactly what is going on right from the outset. So if you are looking for big plot twists and suspense then this might not be the book for you. What this novel does is look at the psychological minefield of grief, relationships both romantic and siblings and rivalry in personal and business domains. It seems that while everyone was drifting along portraying an image of the ideal life, marriage and family, in actual fact, no one knows what is really going on behind closed doors.</div>
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There are some beautiful paragraphs in this book, mainly belonging to Patricia, as she tries to describe how she is coping with and trying to understand what is and has happened in her life. They are wonderfully raw, honest and really paint the picture of how vulnerable and stripped the person left behind is after the death of a loved one. </div>
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There are quite a lot of characters and couples in this book and I found it a bit of a shame that not one set was happy or monogamous. They are all quite strong in opinions and quick to judge and sometimes I found this made everything a little hard to believe. However, the author has tried hard to make clear the reasons and history for behaviour of most of them.</div>
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If you love a book that is a tangled web of lies and deceit that slowly unpicks through a psychological stand point then you will really enjoy His Guilty Secret by Helene Fermont.</div>
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A good and steady read and receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-53974945070368545242017-11-19T08:00:00.000+00:002017-11-19T08:00:13.475+00:00Blog Tour & Review : The Man in the Needlecord Jacket by Linda MacDonald<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of </i></div>
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<i><b>The Man in the Needlecord Jacket</b> </i></div>
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<i>by author Linda MacDonald blog tour. </i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Anne at Random Things Through My Letterbox</i>.</div>
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Publisher : Matador</div>
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1 May 2017</div>
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Copy : Paperback - Received for blog tour</div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<i>The Man in the Needlecord Jacket</i> follows the story of two women who are each struggling to let go of a long-term destructive partnership. Felicity is reluctant to detach from her estranged archaeologist husband and, after being banished from the family home, she sets out to test the stability of his relationship with his new love, Marianne. </div>
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When Felicity meets Coll, a charismatic artist, she has high hopes of being distracted from her failed marriage. What she doesn’t know is that he has a partner, Sarah, with whom he has planned a future. Sarah is deeply in love with Coll, but his controlling behaviour and associations with other women have always made her life difficult. When he becomes obsessed with Felicity, Sarah’s world collapses and a series of events is set in motion that will challenge the integrity of all the characters involved.</div>
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The Man in the Needlecord Jacket follows the lives of Sarah and Felicity, two women who lead very different lives but are linked by one huge thing - the attention of Coll (or the man in the needlecord jacket). </div>
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Sarah, placid, sensitive librarian is the 'girlfriend' of Coll. They have been together for over ten years, but have never moved in to one home, never committed to anything more than a set schedule of when they see each other and a holiday now and then. Coll is very much the controller and Sarah is of the opinion that as a mid-fifties women her choices are limited and she should be grateful for what she has.</div>
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Felicity has just returned to the UK following the breakdown of her relationship with young Italian chef, Gianni, the man for whom she left her husband and children and comfortable life living at Deer Orchard for. She is confident, a business women who owns her own restaurants and she wants her old life back. She is of the opinion that as a mid-fifties women she deserves to get what she wants.</div>
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The three worlds collide when Coll, part-time artist, decides to try and use Felicity's new restaurant as an outlet for selling his artwork. A game of cat and mouse begins for the pair, much to the devastation of Sarah, who quickly knows there is another OW (other women) on the scene.</div>
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The characters and their involvement with one another in this book are deep. The relationship between Felicity and her soon to be ex-husband, Edward, have been explored in previous novels, however this didn't affect my ability to get a good understanding of the relationship and form an opinion, the author has done well to ensure this works.</div>
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I liked the characters who made up Felicity's family - Edward, her four children and respective partners and Marianne, Edwards new partner. The same can not be said for Felicity herself. Her determination to get what she wants in life means she ignores the thoughts and feelings of others - but why would that bother her - she has thought about others for all of her life, it is time for what she wants now!</div>
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It was a refreshing change to have the main characters, particularly the females, as mid-late fifties. It was also good to have the two women coming from very different viewpoints of what it is to be a women in mid-life. On the whole I liked Sarah, although I did want to shake her. I believe these reactions to the characters are exactly what the author wanted.</div>
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There is no likeability in Coll. There are several hints as to a traumatic childhood, particularly involving bullying at the boarding school to which he was forced to attend, and a suggestion is made as to him having a narcissistic personality disorder of some sort, and would explain his undeniable controlling behaviour towards those around him, but this is never really fully explored and I think I would have liked more on this. It would have been nice to have been able to have more of an understanding of this character given how central he is to the story.</div>
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I enjoyed reading this book. Although not a great deal happens as such it is an interesting insight in the minds of men and women as they approach mid-life and can explore their world with hindsight and knowledge - and just how different the approaches with these perspectives can be. It is a good story about relationships - those with yourself and others - and as I have already said, it was a breath of fresh air for the characters to be more mature.</div>
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This novel is well written and nicely paced. The characters are complex and intriguing. For me personally, I am not sure the structure of the booked needed to be as complicated as it is - split between voices is fine and works well, but it was also in sections with titles and subtitles - I couldn't see the benefit and felt it interrupted what was a very good flow a little too much.</div>
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The Man in the Needlecord Jacket receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Linda MacDonald is the author of three independently published novels: <i>Meeting Lydia</i> and the stand-alone sequels, <i>A Meeting of a Different Kind </i>and <i>The Alone Alternative</i>. They are all contemporary adult fiction, multi-themed, but with a focus on relationship issues. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> After studying psychology at Goldsmiths', Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. In 2012, she gave up teaching to focus fully on writing.<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-40800057709562622942017-11-18T13:35:00.002+00:002017-11-18T13:36:01.484+00:00Blog Tour & Review : White Out by Ragnar Jonasson<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of </i></div>
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<b><i>White Out</i></b></div>
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<i>by author Ragnar Jonasson blog tour. </i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Karen at Orenda Books and Anne at Random Things Through My Letterbox</i>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Publisher : Orenda Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">November 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback - Provided by Publisher for blog tour</span></div>
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<span id="freeText2562646769829787960">Two days before Christmas, a young woman is found dead beneath the cliffs of the deserted village of Kálfshamarvík. Did she jump, or did something more sinister take place beneath the lighthouse and the abandoned old house on the remote rocky outcrop? </span></div>
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With winter closing in and the snow falling relentlessly, Ari Thór Arason discovers that the victim's mother and young sister also lost their lives in this same spot, twenty-five years earlier. As the dark history and its secrets of the village are unveiled, and the death toll begins to rise, the Siglufjordur detectives must race against the clock to find the killer, before another tragedy takes place. </div>
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White Out is another powerful triumph from Nordic Noir master Ragnar Jonasson and translator Quentin Bates. With it's trademark policeman, Ari Thor and Tomas, the reader is taken to the dark depths of Iceland to try and get to the bottom of the death of young women, Asta. </div>
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Once again Jonasson uses imagery and the enigmatic beauty of Iceland in winter to really create an almost physical atmosphere - I certainly wrapped the blanket around myself a little tighter every time I sat down to read. This novel in particular is set in the few days lead up to Christmas, where this year Ari Thor is keen to enjoy it with his beloved and heavily pregnant lady, Kristin. But even Christmas can't get in the way when an investigation gets under his skin and Tomas's eagerness to make an arrest on this case makes him feel uneasy about too much extra digging around. </div>
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After the second death in the space of a few days however, both men know something sinister is at hand and can not be ignored. Jonasson creates characters so well, and with the group involved, Thora, Oskar, Reynir and Arnor we soon learn they all have secrets they wish to keep hidden. But it seems that at least one person is aware of each others secret and it is impossible to tell who can be trusted or what lengths they may go to in order to keep those secrets just that.</div>
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Jonasson never produces just a plain old 'who done it'. It is always multi-layered with a touch of history, personal and paranormal aspects explored. This always makes it impossible to try and guess the ending. However, whereas some authors do this and then spoil the result by giving a completely implausible and outlandish ending, in these books it never happens. The truth is completely believable and realistic and most importantly satisfying.</div>
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The final pages of White Out leave the reader as hooked as the first few, with an enticing and tantalising teaser and I for one can not wait for the next instalment of the Dark Iceland series.</div>
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White Out receives a must read : </div>
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Ragnar Jónasson is author of the international bestselling Dark Iceland series. His debut Snowblind went to number one in the kindle charts shortly after publication, and Nightblind, Blackout and Rupture soon followed suit, hitting the number one spot in five countries, and the series being sold in 18 countries and for TV. Ragnar was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he continues to work as a lawyer. From the age of 17, Ragnar translated 14 Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic. He has appeared on festival panels worldwide, and lives in Reykjavik with his wife and young daughters.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-84474885248103604032017-10-20T07:00:00.000+00:002017-10-20T07:00:42.435+00:00Review : Close to Me by Amanda Reynolds<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Wildfire (Headline Publishing Group)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">27 July 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback - Won in competition run by author</span></div>
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She can't remember the last year. Her husband wants to keep it that way.<br />
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When Jo Harding falls down the stairs at home, she wakes up in hospital with partial amnesia-she's lost a whole year of memories. A lot can happen in a year. Was Jo having an affair? Lying to her family? Starting a new life?<br />
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She can't remember what she did-or what happened the night she fell. But she's beginning to realise she might not be as good a wife and mother as she thought.</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>The premise of this book is domestic noir at its darkest and it feels very claustrophobic. Jo Harding remembers little of the last 12 months of her life, prior to her fall down the stairs. But she does remember sending her son off to university, knowing her daughter had gained full time employment following her graduation. Those are good things. Things were good - weren't they? Those are the things she remembers but her instinct, her gut feelings are pushing her to come to other conclusions - but how can she when the ones with the answers to her questions, seem reluctant to share them with her. Jo finds herself doubting her husband, her children but most of all herself.<br />
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Of course truths can't stay buried and we follow Jo on her journey of discovering what twelve mysterious months really are hiding. Jo is determined in her quest and by some direct digging and inadvertent clues she slowly starts to piece together the mixed up jigsaw of her life. Unsurprisingly as reality starts to transpire Jo is left wondering if she actually wants to learn truth and she realises that the year was a long one.<br />
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This is a deeply complex family story. Personally I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, their actions and reactions are all questionable. To a degree that did make it a little hard to really bond to the story because I wanted to be rooting for Jo but couldn't. I also felt that the story could have moved along a little quicker, some of the chapters I felt didn't really move the plot along, but summarised what you already knew.<br />
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That said I still enjoyed this book. I really did want to know what 12 months and the family members, including Jo herself were hiding and I kept reading with gusto.<br />
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Close to Me by Amanda Reynolds receives a Very Pink Notebook rating : <br />
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-35277249013187915372017-10-18T07:00:00.000+00:002017-10-18T07:00:14.306+00:00Review : Into the Water by Paula Hawkins<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Transworld Publishers (Penguin Random House)</span></div>
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In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help.<br /><br />Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.<br /><br />But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.<br /><br />And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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One of the things that stands out in this book is the sheer amount of characters and not merely secondary ones, they all have their own voice by way of their own chapter. I have to admit, if I had a break in reading this book sometimes I would have to go through and remind myself of who was who - but each characters is needed, none are superfluous to the plot and it is quite a feat on behalf of the author to have been able to create so many unique voices in one book, ranging from a young teenage girl, to a grieving mother, to a senior gentleman.</div>
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Protagonist, Jules, is forced to return to her childhood home following the death - suspected suicide - of her sister Nel. Nel leaves behind one daughter, a trail of destruction and a lot of loose ends. Jules find herself needing to tie up those loose ends with explosive consequences.</div>
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As I mentioned the book is structured in the hugely popular chapter by character voice and this moves the highly complex plot along at a good pace. You quickly learn Jules home town is a place full of secrets. A small town whereby everyone thinks they know everyone else, that there couldn't be anywhere to really hide anything - turns out there are plenty and all the inhabitants have hidden things at some point, either out of fear, stupidity, self protection or trying to protect others. But a small town can only hold so many secrets before it starts straining at the seams and once the dams burst there is no stopping what happens next.</div>
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That is this book. It sort of unravels slowly starting with the newest information and slowly unpicking the rest. Recent events start to link to past ones like a connect the dots. Many authors may have struggled to pull it all together because as well as having an awful lot of characters this novel also has an awful lot of plot.</div>
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Hawkins uses 'excerpts' from Nel's contentious research about the history of the towns 'drowning pool' to give the reader the necessary history, it also gives nice little breaks from the narrative of the present day situation. The Drowning Pool is the central location in the novel and it is nice that it is almost given it's own voice.</div>
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With so many threads to pull together it could have easily have been difficult to produce an ending to tie them all up in a satisfactory manner, but this is achieved, the plethora of unanswered questions all get a conclusion.</div>
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It was a pleasure to read such a hyped book and not be disappointed.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-88862772954673173262017-10-16T07:00:00.000+00:002017-10-16T07:00:23.493+00:00Review : The Children by Ann Leary<div style="text-align: center;">
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Published by : St Martins Press</div>
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06 July 2017 (paperback)</div>
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Charlotte Maynard rarely leaves her mother's home, the sprawling Connecticut lake house that belonged to her late stepfather, Whit Whitman, and the generations of Whitmans before him. While Charlotte and her sister, Sally, grew up at "Lakeside," their stepbrothers, Spin and Perry, were welcomed as weekend guests. Now the grown boys own the estate, which Joan occupies by their grace--and a provision in the family trust. </div>
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When Spin, the youngest and favourite of all the children, brings his fiancé home for the summer, the entire family is intrigued. The beautiful and accomplished Laurel Atwood breathes new life into this often comically rarefied world. But as the wedding draws near, and flaws surface in the family's polite veneer, an array of simmering resentments and unfortunate truths is exposed.</div>
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The Children by Ann Leary is a family tale of history, resentment, love and all the myriad of emotion that comes when two families are formed together as one. The question is - no matter how much you think you know one another, do you ever really?<br />
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Charlotte and Sally Maynard grew up with their mother and step-father at the family estate, The Lakehouse. When Whit dies suddenly the will states his wishes are for the girls to be able to continue to reside in the family home. One son, Perry is free and clear about his resentment towards his father's 'second' family. But Spin, who was only a baby when his parents separated has never known any different and is used to being doted on by everyone who knows him. How lucky is he?<br />
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The protagonist in this novel is Charlotte. Almost hermit like Charlotte has been coasting along in life, undisturbed. That is until golden boy Spin, arrives home with a new women in tow, Laurel. Her outlook on life comes to affect everyone in the family, forcing them to stop burying their heads in the sand and face up to the issues they have long been trying to dismiss.<br />
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This is one of those books, a dark, domestic thriller that leaves reading with one dubious eye. It has a good, solid story, plenty of intrigue and will leave you wondering if you do really know those you think you do best...<br />
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The Children by Ann Leary receives an enjoyable read :<br />
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-52930233508451110082017-10-12T15:58:00.001+00:002017-10-12T15:58:59.596+00:00Review - They All Fall Down by Tammy Cohen<div style="text-align: center;">
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Published by : Transworld</div>
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13 July 2017</div>
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Copy : Paperback received from publisher</div>
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<b>She knows there’s a killer on the loose.</b><b>But no-one believes her.</b><br />
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Hannah had a normal life – a loving husband, a good job. Until she did something shocking.<br />
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Now she’s in a psychiatric clinic. It should be a safe place. But patients keep dying.<br />
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The doctors say it’s suicide. Hannah knows they’re lying. <br />
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Can she make anyone believe her before the killer strikes again? </div>
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They All Fall Down has the most intriguing of opening pages - the type I can envisage being used as 'great example of opening chapters' in writing classes. It is both shocking and sad and leaves so many unanswered questions you cannot wait to turn the page.</div>
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Written in chapters by character voices it moves along at great pace and with an abundance of strong and unique viewpoints. Protagonist, Hannah, is residing in a high suicide risk psych ward. You don't know what has brought her to this point and do not learn it for sometime. So along with the 'Is there a killer on the loose?' question you are also exploring the history of Hannah, and just - what did she do?</div>
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During this investigation you learn about her husband, mother, sister and their turbulent past and through Hannah's eyes you are taken on a dark and worrying journey into how vulnerable those in hospital can be. With a host of unreliable narrators, the author nicely drip feeds the plot with red herrings a plenty to keep you guessing. At one point near the end I thought I was about to suffer the most disappointing of endings, but then comes the final, killer twist and there was certainly not a whiff of disappointment in sight.</div>
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A clever and intricate plot, backed up with complex characters and smooth writing makes They All Fall Down a great read.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-21120421359288778392017-10-10T07:00:00.000+00:002017-10-10T07:00:00.334+00:00Blog Tour : The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of the blog</i> <i>tour for The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen. With thanks to Karen and Anne at Orenda Books for involving me and providing me with an early edition.</i></div>
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A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just 37 years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he’s dying. What is more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him. Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists. With a nod to Fargo and the best elements of the Scandinavian noir tradition, The Man Who Died is a page-turning thriller brimming with the blackest comedy surrounding life and death, and love and betrayal, marking a stunning new departure for the King of Helsinki Noir. </div>
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Although dark in topic, a man discovers he has days to live due to being slowly poisoned over the course of some time, Tuomainen has written this novel with a comedic punch and I thoroughly enjoyed that. Providing us with a likeable and amusing protagonist, Jaakko, we are taken on his journey as he races against time to find the culprit of his eventual murder and also and very importantly how he comes to terms emotionally with his own impending death.</div>
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Written and interpreted flawlessly, this pacey novel will keep you glued to it. I finished it in two sittings, after the first two chapters completely hooked me. So much happens in them that you are kind of left with mouth gaping. In only a few pages your mind is swimming with questions and suspicion. And naturally things just get worse. As well as trying to work out who wants him dead he has a nasty competitor for his business leap up on his doorstep who provide plenty of extra trouble.</div>
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With twists and turns a plenty Antti Tuomainen has penned a cracking noir novel. This isn't the first book by this author I have read, so I had high hopes, but I have to say it is my favourite. In this book he has found a unique balance for the reader in taking very dark matter and lightening it up without taking away the intrigue or integrity.</div>
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I could not recommend this book highly enough.</div>
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<img alt="Antti Tuomainen" class=" size-medium wp-image-12633 alignleft" data-attachment-id="12633" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2","credit":"","camera":"ILCE-7","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1426762170","copyright":"","focal_length":"50","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00625","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Antti Tuomainen" data-large-file="https://havebookswillread.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/antti-tuomainen.jpg?w=683" data-medium-file="https://havebookswillread.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/antti-tuomainen.jpg?w=200&h=300" data-orig-file="https://havebookswillread.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/antti-tuomainen.jpg" data-orig-size="4000,6000" data-permalink="https://havebookswillread.com/2017/10/07/the-man-who-died-antti-tuomainen/antti-tuomainen/" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" src="https://havebookswillread.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/antti-tuomainen.jpg?w=200&h=300" width="200" /></div>
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Finnish Antti Tuomainen (b. 1971) was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. The critically acclaimed My Brother’s Keeper was published two years later. In 2011 Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for ‘Best Finnish Crime Novel of 2011’ and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. The Finnish press labelled The Healer – the story of a writer desperately searching for his missing wife in a post-apocalyptic Helsinki – ‘unputdownable’. Two years later in 2013 they crowned Tuomainen ‘The King of Helsinki Noir’ when Dark as My Heart was published. The Mine, published in 2016, was an international bestseller. All of his books have been optioned for TV/film. With his piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen is one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime genre formula, and The Man Who Died sees him at his literary best. </div>
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<b><u></u></b>Find other reviewers reactions to this book.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-29525982092143904472017-07-10T12:31:00.001+00:002017-07-10T12:31:15.099+00:00Review : Don't Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Corvus Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">6 July 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback ARC review copy received from publisher</span></div>
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Robin and Sarah weren't the closest of twins. They weren't even that similar. But they loved each other dearly. Until, in the cruellest of domestic twists, they were taken from one another. </div>
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Now, in her early 30s, Robin lives alone. Agoraphobic and suffering from panic attacks, she spends her days pacing the rooms of her house. The rest of the time she watches - watches the street, the houses, the neighbours. Until one day, she sees something she shouldn't...</div>
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And Sarah? Sarah got what she wanted - the good-looking man, the beautiful baby, the perfect home. But she's just been accused of the most terrible thing of all. She can't be around her new family until she has come to terms with something that happened a long time ago. And to do that, she needs to track down her twin sister.</div>
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But Sarah isn't the only person looking for Robin. As their paths intersect, something dangerous is set in motion, leading Robin and Sarah to fight for much more than their relationship...</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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I was a huge fan of Holly Seddon's first thriller, Don't Forget to Breathe, so was really excited to hear another book was on it's way and I was not to be disappointed.</div>
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At first glance I could see similarities between this novel and the first. It focusses on two female lead characters and the narrative is also given similarly in the voices of both. In this case, non-identical twins, Robin and Sarah, in both the present day and in historical flashbacks. Both have strong and unique back stories which makes you question the reliability of the narration. It leads you on a twisting and turning path so you are never quite sure - what is the truth?</div>
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Starting at the beginning, the twins life as they knew it was torn apart when they were teenagers when their parents decided to separate. The family was best friends with another family, and both decided they wished to be with each other respective partners. Robin was left with her dad, her effective step-mother, Hilary, and Callum, Hilary's son but who Robin and Sarah were best friends with for years, and with whom she develops a closer bond than to her own sister. Sarah was taken by her mother and step-father, Drew, and quickly relocated to Atlanta. Robin and Sarah maintained contact, but neither were truthful about what was really going on in their lives.</div>
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Fast forward the years and Robin, a once well known guitarist in a hit band, finds herself so scarred by what has happened in her life she no longer leaves the house. Instead she spies on her neighbours and makes sure she does 10,000 steps around the house every day. She hasn't seen Sarah until the day she turns up on her doorstep amidst her own troubled world and looking for the sister who can help her.</div>
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As the two try and heal wounds from their past and present day lives, they slowly reveal the truth about what happened to them all those years ago and things start to make sense for the two sisters. They must learn to grieve for what they lost and let go of old hurt and resentment. But they are not the only ones involved in their past and eventually doesn't the past always catch up with you?</div>
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With plenty of suspense, Holly Seddon has managed to create a claustrophobic read, with powerful characters and plot, and in true Holly style, if you were a teen of the 90's (as I was) she floods you with nostalgia as she nails the music and popular culture of the time. As the reader you long to know what they are hiding and Seddon drip feeds this in via short and snappy chapters. In the author's effortless and flowing style she gradually ratchets up the pace until the very end when she executes a real 'I did not see that coming' killer twist.</div>
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With moments of real compassion and emotion, mixed with some gritty and dark scenes this is a must read.</div>
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Without a doubt Don't Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<i>Holly Seddon</i> is a full-time writer, living slap bang in the middle of Amsterdam with her husband, James, and a house full of children and pets. <i>Holly</i> has written for newspapers, websites and magazines since her early 20's after growing up in the English countryside, obsessed with music and books. Her first novel <i>Try Not to Breathe</i> was published worldwide in 2016 and became both a national and international bestseller. <i>Don't Close Your Eyes</i> is her second novel.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-36165150708560450802017-07-04T09:56:00.001+00:002017-07-04T09:56:27.889+00:00Review : The Bursar's Wife (A George Kocharyan Mystery) - by E.G. Rodford<div style="text-align: center;">
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Published by : Titan Books</div>
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Copy : Paperback received from Publisher</div>
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Meet George Kocharyan, Cambridge Confidential Services' one and only private investigator. Amidst the usual jobs following unfaithful spouses, he is approached by the glamourous Sylvia Bookers. The wife of the bursar of Morley College, Booker is worried that her daughter Lucy has fallen in with the wrong crowd.</div>
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Aided by his assistant Sandra and her teenage son, George soon realises that Lucy is sneaking off to the apartment of an older man, but perhaps not for the reasons one might suspects. Then an unfaithful wife he had been following is found dead. As his investigation continues - enlivened by a mild stabbing and the unwanted intervention and attention of Detective Inspector Vicky Stubbing - George begins to wonder if all the threads are connected...</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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One in a series of George Kocharyan, private investigator, novels I enjoyed George's world. I really liked the mainstay characters of George, Sandra and Sandra's teenage son, Jason and the relationships between them. George, being a private investigator, you would assume to be a confident man but in reality he isn't, suffering still from the blow of his wife leaving him which has lead him to question his ability in most aspects of life. But this isn't portrayed in a sad (annoying woe is me way) it is done very comically. As are a lot of the things in this book, which given some of its subject matter is very dark, turns it from what could be a real stomach turning drudge, into something very readable.</div>
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The plot is very thick and complex and the author has woven the threads together in a well paced and clear manner. It is difficult to try and review the storyline without giving anything away so I won't try and say anything more than the blurb, apart from by the end you do feel as if there has been a real journey for George in many ways, not just with the investigation and piecing together the case he is working on but in his family and private life too.</div>
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Sandra and Jason both provide extra light for the dark side of this book and I do not think the story would work anywhere near as well without them, and I am glad they will be returning in further novels within the series.</div>
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With its dark comical narration and plot that twists and turns this is an enjoyable read and as such gets a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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E.G Rodford is the crime-writing pseudonym of an award-winning author living in Cambridge, England. Rodford writes about the seedier side of the city where PI George Kocharyan is usually to be found.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-11790161303540513762017-06-30T07:00:00.000+00:002017-06-30T07:00:17.109+00:00Tour and Review : The Lost Girl by Carol Drinkwater<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of <b>The Lost Girl </b>by Carol Drinkwater blog tour.</i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Sarah Harwood at Penguin Random House for an advance copy of the book and for involving me in the tour.</i></div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<b>Her daughter disappeared four years ago. . .<br /></b>Since her daughter went missing four years earlier, celebrated photographer Kurtiz Ross has been a woman alone. Her only companion her camera. Since Lizzie disappeared, she has blamed and isolated herself, given up hope. Until, out of the blue, an unexpected sighting of Lizzie is made in Paris.<br /><br /><b>Could this lead to the reconciliation she has dreamed of?</b><br /><br />Within hours of Kurtiz arriving in Paris, the City of Light is plunged into a night of hell when a series of terrorist attacks bring the city to a standstill. Amid the fear and chaos, a hand reaches out. A sympathetic stranger in a café offers to help Kurtiz find her daughter.<br /><br /><b>A stranger's guiding light</b><br /><br />Neither knows what this harrowing night will deliver, but the other woman's kindness - and her stories of her own love and loss in post-war Provence - shine light into the shadows, restoring hope, bringing the unexpected. Out of darkness and despair, new life rises. New beginnings unfold.<br /><br /><b>Dare she believe in a miracle?</b><br /><br />Set during a time of bloodshed and chaos in one of the most beautiful cities on earth and along the warm fragrant shores of the Mediterranean, Kurtiz discovers that miracles really can happen . . .</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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Carol Drinkwater is a seasoned writer, but this is the first of her work I have had the pleasure of reading - it will not be the last.</div>
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Written with a confident hand, the story of The Lost Girl, concerns Kurtiz (or KZ as she is affectionately nicknamed) a mother and a career women, who during the peak years of her career went on an assignment to return home to a destroyed life when her daughter goes missing and her husband falls apart.</div>
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The reader is taken into the novel four years later, on the night Kurtiz finds herself in Paris, awaiting news from her estranged husband, Oliver, as to whether he has tracked down the daughter many have written off as dead. But it is a night that does not go to plan when Paris, and Kurtiz, finds itself under siege by a serious of terrorist attacks, one at the venue Kurtiz is hoping Oliver has been reunited with the long lost Lizzie. </div>
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By chance Kurtiz has a brief encounter with Marguerite, an elderly lady who in her hey day was a small time, but well known actress. Marguerite takes to Kurtiz and as the tragic events of the night unravel the two are forced together where Marguerite's story is told. I really enjoyed the structure of this novel, which could have easily become quite confusing but does not, where the memories of Marguerite are punctuated with the present day and the plight of Kurtiz, and also the history of Kurtiz, as she tries to look back and work out why Lizzie would have disappeared in the first place, as she tries to track down her husband and potentially her daughter.</div>
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As you may well assume, the title of the novel - The Lost Girl - would refer to quite literally the lost girl - Kurtiz's daughter, Lizzie. But as you progress you realise it is applicable to all three of the females in the plot. They were all once young women, finding themselves in situations they did not anticipate and dealt with these in very different ways.</div>
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I didn't particularly warm to the character of Kurtiz, even at the end, when I feel the author tried hard to explain the reason she made the choices she did, the things she did, or didn't do so that you felt some sympathy for her. The same can be said of Marguerite initially, although I did warm to her as the story progressed and I could really imagine her, as an elderly women, glamourous in every way and remorseful of her behaviour as a young, naïve and inexperienced young girl.</div>
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The setting for the 'memories' of Marguerite are beautiful and wonderfully enticing, I could really imagine standing looking over Charlie's land as the scent of rose petals and jasmine drifted on the air and it really did make me feel wistful for Marguerite.</div>
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In a way the overall plot is a little on the unbelievable side, I won't say why because I do not want to give anything away, however, if you are happy to wave a hand of 'I don't care' to really enjoy a story taking you on a journey of womenhood and motherhood then you will thoroughly enjoy this.</div>
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<i>The Lost Girl </i>by Carol Drinkwater receives a highly recommend Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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<b>Carol Drinkwater</b> is a multi-award winning actress who is best known for playing Helen Herriot in the BBC television series <i>All Creatures Great and Small. </i>She has since written 21 fiction and non-fiction books, including four memoirs set on her olive farm in the south of France, which have sold over one million copies worldwide. <i>The Forgotten Summer</i> ('page-turning' - <i>Daily Mail</i>), a novel set on a vineyard in Provence, was published by Michael Joseph in 2016. Carol lives with her husband Michel Noll, a documentary filmmaker, in their farmhouse in the French Riviera.</div>
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You can find more information at <a href="http://www.caroldrinkwater/">www.caroldrinkwater</a>.com or on Twitter : @Carol4OliveFarm.</div>
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<br />Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-22539681155246803892017-06-23T12:12:00.002+00:002017-06-23T12:19:11.002+00:00Review : Where the Wild Cherries Grow by Laura Madeleine<div style="text-align: center;">
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Published by : Black Swan</div>
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(Paperback - 15 June 2017)</div>
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Copy - Received from Publisher</div>
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<span id="freeText11327775368445808578"><i>I closed my eyes as I tried to pick apart every flavour, because nothing had ever tasted so good before. It was like tasting for the first time. Like discovering colour . . .</i><br /><br />It is 1919 and the war is over, but for Emeline Vane the cold Norfolk fens only are haunted by memories of those she has lost. In a moment of grief, she recklessly boards a train and runs from it all.<br /><br />Her journey leads her far away, to a tiny seaside village in the South of France. Taken in by cafe owner Maman and her twenty-year-old son, Emeline discovers a world completely new to her: of oranges, olives and wild herbs, the raw, rich tastes of the land.<br /><br />But when a love affair develops, as passionate as the flavours of the village, secrets from home begin blowing in on the sea wides. Fifty years later, a young solicitor on his first case finds Emeline's diary, and begins to trace a story of betrayal, love and bittersweet secrets that will send him on a journey to discover the truth...</span> </div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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Every now and then a book comes along whereby when I finish it I think to myself - I will read that again and again - some examples for me include Little Women and The Great Gatsby, more recently Gone Girl and I Let You go. <i>Where the Wild Cherries Grow</i> by Laura Madeline has just added itself to that list.</div>
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Now I must admit the cover of this book, well, it didn't enthral or entice me into reading it. I found it a little dull and twee and was worried the book would be too, perhaps more something my mother might enjoy. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE AT ALL.</div>
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Inside the reader finds a joyful, pleasure in the beautiful and quite frankly, mouth-watering, story of Emeline Vane. Disappearing in a puff of mystery when she was just 19, in 1919, she is presumed long dead by the family of 1969 which is our starting point. With the family eager to be able to sell the derelict manor house sitting on prime real estate to a developer they must seek proof she is actually dead. They enlist the help of small time solicitors Hillbrand and Moffat and the case falls newbie Bill Perch.</div>
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Written between two narrators, Bill Perch in 1969 and Emeline Vane in 1919, the world of Emeline is slowly unravelled explaining to the reader the events leading up to her disappearance and pieces together what happened afterwards. As Bill Perch's investigation continues he begins to feel a bond and obligation to Emeline Vane to discover the truth - he believes she is still alive - going against what he is being paid to do. Thus not only do we go on Emelines adventure but Bill's as well.</div>
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There are a whole host of quirky characters within this novel, who open both narrators eyes and I loved them all, particularly Emeline's 'boss' Clemence, with her warm and wise motherly love for the town which she cooks and lives. The author's use and descriptions of recipes and ingredients are so passionate and vivid you can almost smell the tomato's and garlic roasting. I loved the stories behind them and, at this point, Kudos must go to Madeline for her research of the traditions and cultures of the cuisine of the time.</div>
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Although this is tale told gently and with amazing locations and settings the mystery is kept really strong throughout. It keeps you wondering and turning the pages and I was desperate for Bill to discover what happened to the scared 19 year old who gave up everything she knew in order to have a real life.</div>
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It was totally absorbing to read about the women's world of the time and I think if I was Bill Perch I would have been inclined to through caution to the wind and do exactly the same as what he does! This was one of those books whereby you near the end, but still so much is to be discovered and I loved the ending - I wished there had been more of it, a longer scene between the two final characters that went deeper and into more detail. The final sentence by Bill really made me smile. For me it would have been the perfect place to end - I personally didn't really feel the epilogue was really necessary.</div>
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Beautifully paced and written with a gentle hand I can not recommend this book highly enough and as such <i>Where the Wild Cherries Grow</i> by Laura Madeline receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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After a childhood spent acting professionally and training at a theatre school, Laura Madeline chose instead to focus on studying English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge.</div>
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She now writes fiction under three different psuedonyms. Laura lives in Bristol, but can often be found visiting family in Devon, eating cheese and getting up to mischief with her sister, fantasy author Lucy Housom.</div>
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Laura can be found on Twitter @esthercrumpet.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-65562127568704970772017-06-20T07:00:00.000+00:002017-06-20T07:00:27.660+00:00Tour and Review : Exquisite by Sarah Stovell<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to showcase the new psychological thriller by Sarah Stovell </i></div>
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<i><b>Exquisite</b></i></div>
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<i>With thanks to <a href="http://www.orendabooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Orenda Books</a> for involving me in the tour and an early copy of the book.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Orenda Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">15 June 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback Received from Publisher</span></div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<span id="freeText10953654570678124699">Bo Luxton has it all—a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers’ retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops. Or does it? </span></div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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Meet Bo, writer - talented and successful. Meet Alice, writer - unpublished and unconfident. These are the two fascinating female leads in this well crafted, beautifully written psychological thriller, Exquisite, by Sarah Stovell. </div>
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A story with many rich themes; obsession, love, passion, revenge, betrayal, fear to name but a few, we follow the lives of these two damaged women who's paths cross with devastating consequences.</div>
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It is always difficult to review a good psychological thriller without committing the cardinal sin of letting out plot spoilers. This particular thriller isn't typical in the massive twists and turns sense. You know what is going on but you never sure just how far it is going to go. It doesn't have moments where it points the finger at every character that comes into contact with the protagonist leaving you thinking - what if? What it has is two fantastically unreliable narrators leaving you thinking what the hell is going to happen next...</div>
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Neither Bo nor Alice are massively likable, but I found that only added to heightening the tension as I wasn't quite sure who I wanted to root for, at least for two thirds of the book, then it became glaringly obvious. It is a very claustrophobic atmosphere that is created by Madeline, cleverly developed along with the intensity of the relationship between the two characters.</div>
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The author has used environment and setting to its absolute max in this novel. Bo is set in the vast, but isolating and quiet Lake District. A place that can have such beauty but also can hold grave danger. Bo, we gather, has experienced severe trauma in her lifetime and she longs for an ordinary life, a content life where she can keep everything in her hornet's nest buried deep. She loves being a mother but has vowed to never be like her own.</div>
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Vibrant and chaotic Brighton is the home of Alice. The girl who experienced a terrible childhood with her mother also but had the luck to be placed with a good foster family who encouraged her to go to University where she discovered her creative side, and is seeking an environment to flourish in. Being taken on my Bo, from her writing perspective is all she could wish for.</div>
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Of course for anyone who reads this who is also a writer at heart this book is doubly enthralling. It is interesting to see the story of the successful and the aspiring. With the two different view points I particularly liked the way this tied in in the last third of the novel.</div>
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This book has great pace, writing and structure. It is a real page-turner with dare I say it - exquisite - use of imagery regarding the Lake District. And the ending - just ... chilling...</div>
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Exquisite by Sarah Stovell receives a Very Pink Notebook review of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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Sarah Stovell was born in 1977 and spent most of her life in the Home Counties before a season working in a remote North Yorkshire youth hostel made her realise she was a northerner at heart. She now lives in Northumberland with her partner and two children and is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lincoln University. Her debut psychological thriller, <i>Exquisite, </i>is set in the Lake District.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-19977415995298714842017-06-10T17:49:00.000+00:002017-06-10T17:49:22.952+00:00Review : This Family of Things by Alison Jameson<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is pleased to review </i></div>
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<i><b>This Family of Things</b>, a beautiful literary work by Alison Jameson. </i></div>
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<i>With thanks to Rosie Margesson of Transworld Publishers for the ARC copy.</i></div>
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Published by : Transworld</div>
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8 June 2017</div>
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Copy : Paperback - Provided by Publisher</div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<span id="freeText2828802551358947123">On his way back up from the yard Bird had seen something white and round – a girl who had curled herself into a ball. Lifting her was like retrieving a ball of newspaper from out of the grass or an empty crisp bag that someone had flung over the ditch. She seemed to lack the bones and meat and muscle of real people. She felt as if she was filled with feathers.</span></div>
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<span><br />On the day Midge O’Connor comes hurtling into Bird Keegan’s life, she flings open his small, quiet world. He and his two sisters, Olive and Margaret, have lived in the same isolated community all their lives, each one more alone than the others can know. </span></div>
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<span><br />Taking in damaged, sharp-edged Midge, Bird invites the scorn of his neighbours and siblings. And as they slowly mend each other, family binds – and the tie of the land – begin to weigh down on their tentative relationship. Can it survive the misunderstandings, contempt and violence of others?</span></div>
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<span><br />A poignant and powerful study of the emotional lives of three siblings and the girl who breaks through their solitude.</span></div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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I must admit the first chapter of this book left me a little flat, I wasn't quite sure where it was going to go, what the hook was, or the intrigue. But I loved the fluid, poetic style of writing so I continued on with an open mind. And I am so glad I did.</div>
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This is a beautiful book. It searches deep into the human soul and takes you on an emotional journey with four people who are very ordinary and in search of nothing, but everything at the same time. Now, being more a reader of psychological thrillers I had to get over the urge to think things might take unexpected turns or twists, because this is not that sort of book. Instead you just need to read, absorb and enjoy the story about the lives of the characters. There are no hidden agenda's just the exploration of the way the mind works in one man and three women who have all kept themselves in relative isolation for one reason or another.</div>
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Although the main protagonist is Midge Connors, the story involves Bird, Margaret and Olive Keegan, three siblings, in equal measure. The story looks closely at the relationships the four manufacture between each other and the relationship they have with themselves. Midge arrives in the Keegan household after Bird discovers her in a heap on his driveway, following being ejected from the car in which she travelled with her violent father. Once the two meet, although they try to forget about each other, a bond has been forged and they are drawn to each other. But each has their own demons and life throws many obstacles in the way of a happy existence - the question is whether they are strong enough people to withstand what fate puts in their way. In the meantime the two sisters, Margaret and Olive are also assessing the option of love in their lives, something they have both held back from for various reasons, instead only choosing to trust in one another. The question they must ask is : Are they too old to change?</div>
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This is a true tale of love, hate, discovery, loss and empowerment. I enjoyed the journey of each of the characters and it was told in gentle, heartfelt and emotive fashion with beautiful use of language and imagery. I really liked the structure of the novel it helps to really define quite a long timescale and compartmentalise the stages in the characters lives.</div>
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This is a novel that will tug at your heartstrings and make you think. Sometimes it will leave you scratching your head, wishing the characters to make a different choice, but ultimately it will leave you feeling like you have read a really good book. </div>
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This Family of Things by Alison Jameson receives a Very Pink Notebook Rating of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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<i>Alison Jameson</i> grew up on a farm in the Irish midlands, a secluded and beautiful place that continues to inspire her work. She is the bestselling author of <i>This Man and Me</i>, which was nominated for the IMPAC Literary Award, and <i>Under My Skin. </i>Her third novel, <i>Little Beauty, </i>was published by Doubleday Ireland in 2013. An English and History graduate of University College Dublin, she worked in advertising for many years before becoming an author. Home in Dublin where she lives with her husband and son. </div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-2554481425904588812017-06-01T07:00:00.000+00:002017-06-01T07:00:22.539+00:00Review : Friends and Liars by Kaela Coble<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook wishes a fantastic publication day to </i></div>
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<i>Kaela Coble for Friends and Liars.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by Atlantic Books (Corvus)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">01 June 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback received from publisher</span></div>
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<span id="freeText12837015482864369511">It has been ten years since Ruby left her hometown behind. Since then she's built a life away from her recovering alcoholic mother and her first love, Murphy. But when Danny, one of her estranged friends from childhood, commits suicide, guilt draws Ruby back into the tumultuous world she escaped all those years ago.<br /><br />She's dreading the funeral - and with good reason. Danny has left a series of envelopes addressed to his former friends. Inside each envelope is a secret about every person in the group. Ruby's secret is so explosive, she will fight tooth-and-nail to keep it hidden from those she once loved so deeply, even if that means risking everything...</span> </div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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Friends and Liars, the debut novel by Kaela Coble, follows the web of lies and deceit woven by a group of childhood friends, Ruby, Murphy, Ally, Emmet and Danny who promised each other they would always be honest. But when one of the friends suddenly dies, the past is not going to stay buried. Forced together for the funeral deceased Danny leaves one final act of love or is it hate? In five letters - each addressed individually to the members of the group (or The Crew as they liked to call themselves) their biggest secret is revealed - but how does Danny know all of these? And why is he forcing them to face what they have worked so hard to keep hidden?</div>
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These are all questions that are investigated throughout the course of the novel. The reader is mainly given the viewpoint of Ruby to journey with both in 'now' and 'back then'. Ruby is the one that got away, the one who left and never looked back. However, the voices of the only other female of the original group Ally, and Steph the girlfriend of one of the boys is also introduced to give a better all round picture.</div>
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And that is how this novel seems to work, it starts as a murky picture with lots of unclear edges, and gradually as each secret is slowly revealed you start to build up a full picture of what life was like for the group as they grew up and eventually went their separate ways into adulthood and thus come forth the secret revelations, the fall outs of those and the eventual acceptance that you never really know everything about anyone.</div>
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Coble holds the suspense well but gives you enough snippets to keep you engaged and wanting to know more. The big secrets are Ruby and Murphy's so these of course are the last to be revealed, but you are given hints and indications as to what they might be (some red herrings, some not) from quite early on. The writing flows nicely with good dialogue and use of environmental description of the small town in which they group up and to which Ruby has had to return to the funeral, in helping to heighten the constant feeling of entrapment finds herself in now she has returned.</div>
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What I also liked about this novel was the use of the characters past to help paint the picture as to why things happened. Sometimes in novels this is used briefly but by the 'now' and 'back then' alternating chapters you get to see whole scenes played out and you need this to really understand why the group were so needy for 'The Crew' to be just that. They all needed the extra support of one another, but as a teenager, was it all just too close and intense?</div>
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I loved that the opening and final chapter is written from the viewpoint of Danny, looking around at the others from his place beyond the grave and I liked his very distinct style, it fits perfectly with his character as is portrayed throughout. The tone for the start and then the end, I really enjoyed, a very satisfactory ending.</div>
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Friends and Liars is an enjoyable read and I would recommend it heartily. Therefore it receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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Kaela Coble is a member of the League of Vermont Writers, a voracious reader, and a hopeless addict of bad television and chocolate. She lives with her husband in Burlington, Vermont, and is a devoted mother to their rescued chuggle, Gus. <i>Friends and Liars</i> is her first novel.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-33837404108411727142017-05-31T07:00:00.000+00:002017-05-31T07:00:21.063+00:00Review : Don't Wake Up by Liz Lawler<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34612420-don-t-wake-up"><img alt="Don't Wake Up" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489745014l/34612420.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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Published by Bonnie Zaffre</div>
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18 May 2017</div>
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Copy : Ebook from Readers First</div>
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<span id="freeText1450120995409723125">Alex Taylor wakes up tied to an operating table.<br /><br />The man who stands over her isn't a doctor.<br /><br />The offer he makes her is utterly unspeakable.<br /><br />But when Alex re-awakens, she's unharmed - and no one believes her horrifying story. Ostracised by her colleagues, her family and her partner, she begins to wonder if she really is losing her mind.<br /><br />And then she meets the next victim.</span></div>
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This novel has one of the most eerie opening chapters I think I have read. It takes, what I would assume to be most peoples fear, and lays it bare on a page. Alex Taylor, hospital doctor, wakes up and finds herself on an operating table - as if that is scary enough on it's own, she finds this isn't an accident, she is there for a reason, someone is very upset with her and wants to make her pay.</div>
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Of course, Alex - for reasons unknown to her - is set free from this horror and finds herself being discovered by a search party. Lucky her. What is not so lucky is no one believes her story about her abduction and as her world gradually unravels she even starts to question her own sanity.</div>
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This is certainly a punchy opener and it would be impossible for the novel to continue in such a explosive way, but it certainly continues at a pace and with the same eerie darkness. Having said that it is not grotesque or gruesome, it more just plays on common fears and it makes you live out what would be a pretty nasty dream.</div>
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Alex quickly realises that although she was freed from her ordeal it is far from over and her abductor has not finished with their work. What continues is a women, with no support on her theory of what happened, finding herself getting deeper and deeper in a situation she can not control. A game of cat or mouse where she is most definitely being used as the play thing.</div>
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When the big reveal comes I was quite surprised, the author does well to cast reasonable doubt over most of the characters and I was constantly wondering if it was maybe him or her, or if indeed Alex did imagine it all. If I was being brutally honest, maybe the truth when it came to light was a little on the far fetched side of the radar, but to be honest, I enjoyed the journey of getting to the truth that didn't bother me and I thought the author went to great lengths to try and give the reason for what happens. </div>
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Coble uses common fears to really pump up the heartrate in this novel, which is clever. I certainly found the use of locations really did put me on edge, the use of hospitals and their maze like nature really helped with the atmosphere of the novel, mirroring the maze of puzzles that work through Alex's mind and therefore the readers. </div>
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If you enjoy a gritty thriller then you will enjoy Liz Lawler's Don't Wake Up and it receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-30249308265122408222017-05-30T07:00:00.000+00:002017-05-30T15:25:56.581+00:00Tour and Review : Troll by D.B. Thorne<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of the <b>Troll by D. B. Thorne</b></i></div>
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<i>blog tour. With thanks to Kate at Atlantic Books (Corvus) for involving me in the tour and for an advance copy of the book.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Corvus Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">01 June 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback provided by the publisher</span></div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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Years ago, Fortune gave up on his daughter, Sophie, after a troubled adolescence. Now she's gone missing, vanished without trace. And after weeks of investigation, the police have given up on her, too.<br />
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Driven by guilt, and a determination to atone for his failures as a father, he takes on the search himself. He soon finds that his daughter had been living in fear of a vicious online troll who seemed to know far too much about her. Could Sophie's disappearance be linked to this unknown predator? Fortune is about to discovers that monsters which live online don't always stay there... </div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b><br />
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If you want a psychological thriller of epic proportions then <i>Troll </i>by D. B. Thorne is a must read.</div>
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This novel starts unsettling and bit by bit gets darker and more twisted, but in a very real and also moving way.</div>
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Told in a two-fold narrative, the story is pinned together by Fortune, a 54 year old successful businessman, but failed father and husband and Sophie, Fortune's daughter who is missing, presumed dead.</div>
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It is difficult to try and review this book because I do not want to give anything away, so all I will say is the author has done an amazing job of deconstructing and reconstructing a very intricate and complicated plot in a way that will make it impossible to put down (Case in point - I read this in <i>one day</i>!) It is so clever and well thought out, I would love to know, from a writers perspective, how the author went about planning and plotting for this one because I am not sure I would have known where to start.</div>
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I also said that although dark, this is a moving book. And it really is. It looks at the dynamics of dysfunctional families, the relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, in a deep way. </div>
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The novel tackles several difficult themes - again I won't mention specifics because I do not want to hint or reveal anything, but just to say they are handled well, so you can feel the power of them but you are not left with a stomach turned. Again, this is done through excellent writing by D. B. Thorne.</div>
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With it's clear and clever structure, flawless writing, strong characters and excellent use of locations this is definitely one of the best psychological thrillers I have read this year and I will certainly be making a point of picking up the other books by this author.</div>
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<i>Troll</i> by D. B. Thorne receives nothing less than a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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<b>D. B. Thorne</b> has worked as a writer for the last 15 years, originally in advertising, then in television and radio comedy. He has written material for many comedians, including Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, David Mitchell and Bob Mortimer. He was a major contributor to the BAFTA-winning Armstrong and Miller Show, and has worked on shows including Facejacker, Harry and Paul and Alan Carr : Chatty Man. <b>Troll </b>is his fourth novel.</div>
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<b><u>Follow the Tour</u></b></div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-55623471419484609632017-05-27T15:50:00.000+00:002017-05-27T15:50:10.231+00:00COMING SOON : Monsters who live online... don't always stay there : TROLL<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-21228156514378038232017-05-23T07:00:00.000+00:002017-05-23T07:00:21.439+00:00Tour and Review : Two Lost Boys by L. F. Robertson<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of the <b>Two Lost Boys by L. F. Robertson</b></i></div>
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<i>blog tour. With thanks to Philippa at Titan Books for involving me in the tour and for an advance copy of the book.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Titan Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">16 May 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : Paperback provided by Publisher</span></div>
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<b><u>The Blurb</u></b></div>
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<b><i>She knows he's guilty, but guilty of what?</i></b></div>
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Janet Moodie has spent years as a death row appeals attorney. Overworked and recently widowed, she's had her fill of hopeless cases, and is determined that this will be her last. Her client is Marion 'Andy' Hardy, convicted along with his brother Emory of the rape and murder of two women. But Emory received a life sentence while Andy got the death penalty, labeled the ringleader despite his low IQ and Emory's dominant personality.<br />
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Convinced that Andy's previous lawyers missed mitigating evidence that would have kept him off death row, Janet investigates Andy's past. She discovers a sordid and damaged upbringing, a series of errors on the part of his previous counsel, and most worrying of all, the possibility that there is far more to the murders than was first thought. Andy may be guilty, but does he deserve to die?</div>
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<b><u>The Very Pink Notebook Review</u></b></div>
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Two lost boys is a well written legal drama. Being a big Grisham fan I was really happy to be asked to review this title and it did give me the nostalgia of reading a JG novel. It is what it says, it is a legal drama, and we are taken through it via female protagonist Janet Moodie. </div>
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Moodie is living a lonely life following the death of her husband and flying of the nest by only son Gavin. She has retreated to a quieter world, away from the city and death row and stares that make her feeling guilty about her husbands suicide. What the reader is left with is a very simple women who is just trying to recover from a massive trauma. </div>
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I think it is her own life upsets which compels are to tackle the case of Marion 'Andy' Hardy. She is convinced that although guilty for sure of some part in his crime the truth has not actually come out. She is convinced his past is the key to his way out of a death penalty. And that is what the book investigates. The reader is merely on the journey with Moodie and fellow investigator Dave as they try and delve into the family history and events that could have made Andy the person he is today. </div>
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This is not a story that is going to set your world alight with twists and turns. But, if you enjoy reading about the structure and routine that goes into the legal world in something such as a death penalty appeal, then you will enjoy this book. It's writing flows easily and clearly, it keeps a steady pace and you really do get a good feel for the characters. It really is quite a sad and morose story.</div>
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On occasion I did find some of the chapters a little repetitive and wasn't quite sure how they had moved the plot forward, but on the whole I did thoroughly enjoy the tale told my L. F. Robertson in this book. The ending I at first found a little flat, but as the day wore on I realised it was a very realistic ending and, actually, I quite liked that.</div>
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Two Lost Boys by L. F. Robertson receives a solid : </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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L. F. Robertson is a practising defence attorney who for the last two decades has handled only death penalty appeals. Linda is the co-author of <i>The Complete Idiots Guide to Unsolved Mysteries</i>, and a contributor to the forensic handbooks <i>How to Try a Murder </i>and <i>Irrefutable Evidence</i>. She has had short stories published in the anthologies <i>My Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes : the Hidden Years </i>and <i>Sherlock Holmes : The American Years.</i> </div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-17104424993048329092017-05-19T06:26:00.000+00:002017-05-19T06:26:21.481+00:00Tour & Giveaway - Reconciliation for the Dead by Paul E. Hardisty<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Book Giveaway</b></div>
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To celebrate the upcoming publication of </div>
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<i><b>Reconciliation for the Dead</b></i><b> <i>(Claymore Straker Series 3) by Paul E. Hardisty (Orenda Books)</i></b> </div>
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The Very Pink Notebook is hosting a giveaway!</div>
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To get your hands on a copy of this gritty thriller click on this <a href="https://twitter.com/LynseyMummaDuck" target="_blank">link </a>and retweet the <b>pinned tweet</b> - Simple! A winner will be selected at random on publication day (30 May 2017) and notified via twitter.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published by : Orenda Books</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">30 May 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy for Competition : Provided by Publisher</span></div>
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<span id="freeText11627019208028986652">Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed. Exploring true events from one of the most hateful chapters in South African history, Reconciliation for the Dead is a shocking, explosive and gripping thriller from one finest writers in contemporary crime fiction. </span></div>
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<b><u>Praise for Paul E. Hardisty </u></b></div>
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‘A solid, meaty thriller – Hardisty is a fine writer and Straker is a great lead character’ <i>Lee Child</i> </div>
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‘A trenchant and engaging thriller that unravels this mysterious land in cool, precise sentences’ <i>Stav Sherez, Catholic Herald</i> </div>
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‘Just occasionally, a book comes along to restore your faith in a genre – and Paul Hardisty does this in spades’ <i>Sharon Wheeler, Crime Review </i></div>
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This is a remarkably well-written, sophisticated novel in which the people and places, as well as frequent scenes of violent action, all come alive on the page...’ <i>Literary Review</i> </div>
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‘Hardisty doesn’t put a foot wrong in this forceful, evocative thriller … the author’s deep knowledge of the settings never slows down the non-stop action, with distant echoes of a more-moral minded Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne’ <i>Maxim Jakubowski</i> </div>
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<b><u>About the Author</u></b></div>
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Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana's. Paul is a university professor, visiting professor at Imperial College, London, and Director of Australia's national land, water, ecosystems and climate adaption research programmes. His debut thriller was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger and <i>Telegraph</i> thriller of the year. He lives in Western Australia.</div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4759420266284332109.post-62555571587099330902017-05-14T15:10:00.002+00:002017-05-14T15:10:42.473+00:00Review : The Vinyl Detective - The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">9 May 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Copy : ARC copy received from publisher</span></div>
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<span id="freeText9923111909868975256">His first adventure consisted of the search for a rare record; his second the search for a lost child. Specifically the child of Valerian, lead singer of a great rock band of the 1960s, who hanged herself in mysterious circumstances after the boy's abduction. </span></div>
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<span><br />Along the way, the Vinyl Detective finds himself marked for death, at the wrong end of a shotgun, and unknowingly dosed with LSD as a prelude to being burned alive. And then there's the grave robbing...</span> </div>
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The second in a trilogy, The Vinyl Detective - The Run-Out Groove, is another well written, laugh out loud (well, I did) confident offering from Andrew Cartmel.</div>
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Thrust back into the world of the Vinyl Detective (name of the character is, as yet, not revealed - which must be quite tricky for the author to work around!) I did wonder how similar the storyline would be to the first, given essentially at the beginning the protagonist was after another rare record. I need not have worried, it is vastly different and again, despite the humour running throughout it is actually a serious plot.</div>
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Packed with another set of punchy characters, I was glad to see the return of some others, namely Nevada, Tinkler, Stinky and Fanny and Turk (the cats) and to travel around the rocker scene of past era's in the search for the truth about wild child Valerian. We are given a colourful history of the women in question via people who were close to the singer, and discover some uncomfortable truths about her family along the way.</div>
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Of course, when the truth is somewhat misty, it is usually so for a reason and the Vinyl Detective and Co quickly discover there is someone that wishes for it to remain that way. Not quite sure if they are in 'Paranoia Heights' after their last dramatic escapade, the gang must try and determine who they can trust, if anyone.</div>
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Although it didn't have me quite as 'on the edge of my seat' as book number one, I did thoroughly enjoy book number two and would again highly recommend it. I also learned what, exactly, a Run-Out Groove is.</div>
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As such The Vinyl Detective - The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : </div>
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<i>Andrew Cartmel</i> is a novelist and screenwriter. His work for television includes <i>Midsomer Murders<u> </u></i>and <i>Torchwood</i>, and a legendary stint as Script Editor on <i>Doctor Who</i>. He has also written plays for the London Fringe, toured as a stand-up comedian, and is currently co-writing with Ben Aaronovitch a series of comics based on the bestselling <i>Rivers of London </i>books. He lives in London.</div>
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<b><u>The Vinyl Detective Books</u></b></div>
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<i><a href="http://theverypinknotebook.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/review-vinyl-detective-written-in-dead.html" target="_blank">The Vinyl Detective Written in Dead Wax</a> is available NOW.</i></div>
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<i>The Vinyl Detective The Run-Out Groove is out on 9th May 2017.</i></div>
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<i>The Vinyl Detective Victory Disc is out May 2018.</i></div>
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Lynsey Summershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09026494707946270279noreply@blogger.com0