Blog Tour and Review : The Secrets Between Us by Laura Madeleine

The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to launch the blog tour for the new release from Laura Madeleine

The Secrets Between Us

With thanks to Hannah Bright at Transworld Books for involving me in the tour.

Publisher : Transworld Books

ebook : 7 January 2018 / paperback 19 April 2018

Copy : Received from Hannah Bright as part of blog tour

The Blurb

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. 

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.

The Very Pink Notebook Review

The Secrets Between Us is another sumptuous and mouth-watering offering from culinary fiction genius Laura Madeleine.

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.

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 grand-mere and her complicated love life of the war-torn years of 1943 in a little mountain village in the South of France.

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 grand-mere 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 grand-mere and forcing herself on an adventure she never thought she was brave enough to take she is finally discovering her true sense of self.

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 fougassette could be made so sensual - this is the genius of Laura Madeleine.

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.  

I think it is clear, I loved this book and as such it receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of : 

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!

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Review : Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Published by : Transworld Publishers (Penguin Random House)

2 May 2017

Copy : Hardback - Reviewer purchase

The Blurb

In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help.

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.

But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.

And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .

The Very Pink Notebook Review

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It was a pleasure to read such a hyped book and not be disappointed.

Tour and Review : The Lost Girl by Carol Drinkwater

The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to be part of The Lost Girl by Carol Drinkwater blog tour.

With thanks to Sarah Harwood at Penguin Random House for an advance copy of the book and for involving me in the tour.

Published by : Penguin Random House

29 June 2017

Copy : Hardback received from publisher

The Blurb

Her daughter disappeared four years ago. . .
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.

Could this lead to the reconciliation she has dreamed of?

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.

A stranger's guiding light

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.

Dare she believe in a miracle?

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 . . .

The Very Pink Notebook Review

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Lost Girl by Carol Drinkwater receives a highly recommend Very Pink Notebook rating of :

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  About the Author

Carol Drinkwater is a multi-award winning actress who is best known for playing Helen Herriot in the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small.  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.  The Forgotten Summer ('page-turning' - Daily Mail), 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.

You can find more information at www.caroldrinkwater.com or on Twitter : @Carol4OliveFarm.

Follow the conversation : #TheLostGirl

Review : Everything But The Truth by Gillian McAllister

Published by : Penguin Random House

09 March 2017

Copy : Paperback - Reviewer Purchase

The Blurb

It all started with the email.

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

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

Why has Jack been lying about his past? Just what exactly is he hiding? And doesn't Rachel have a right to know the truth at any cost?

The Very Pink Notebook Review

My purchase of this book followed lots of hype and rave reviews on Twitter and I do love a debut novel, especially in the domestic noir / psychological thriller genre. 

Everything but the Truth isn't a read with one eye story, but it is an intriguing insight into how quickly people can jump into a life with someone they barely know and the subsequent consequences.  Protagonist Rachel finds this out after falling pregnant by relatively new boyfriend Jack and as it comes to light that Jack may not be quite who he seems, Rachel has to question - is anyone perfect?  And along comes the debate about how much of someone's past should and can be brushed over.

Rachel wrestles with many issues over the course of this book, but essentially they all boil down to 'relationships'.  The relationship between herself and her mother.  The relationship she has as a doctor with patients.  Her own romantic relationships.  They are cleverly woven in and out of the main plot of discovering Jack's past.  Told from only the viewpoint of Rachel we learn about her own chequered history, which certainly muddies the waters about her reliability about what she is perceiving and although this isn't a book that goes at staggering speed or has big epic scenes, it is a real page turner.  The issues it deals with are very possible and does make you question - what if?  It is confidently written and the characters are well rounded and developed, all of them with their own flaws, they could easily be people you could know in your own life.

Everything but the Truth is a well plotted and enjoyable debut novel.

The Very Pink Notebook therefore gives this book :

 

Review : A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

Published by : Doubleday

23 March 2017

Copy : Paperback received from Alison Barrow

The Blurb

It was a first class deception that would change her life forever

1939, Europe on the brink of war. Lily Shepherd leaves England on an ocean liner for Australia, escaping her life of drudgery for new horizons. She is instantly seduced by the world onboard: cocktails, black-tie balls and beautiful sunsets. Suddenly, Lily finds herself mingling with people who would otherwise never give her the time of day.

But soon she realizes her glamorous new friends are not what they seem. The rich and hedonistic Max and Eliza Campbell, mysterious and flirtatious Edward, and fascist George are all running away from tragedy and scandal even greater than her own.

By the time the ship docks, two passengers are dead, war has been declared, and life will never be the same again.

The Very Pink Notebook Review

This novel is a drama suspense of which I thoroughly enjoyed.  With beautiful, languid story-telling, I was completely absorbed into the world of Lily Shepherd, on passage aboard the liner, Orontes, to a new adventure to Australia.  Lily, herself 'tourist class', is somewhat caught in the middle of a class war on board.  She is given a glimpse into the world of First Class by the scandalous and morally outcast socialites, The Campbells, whilst also learning passengers may sit on the same class level aboard the great ship are not all seen as equals.  Add to this the tumulus background rumbling of a World War on the brink of an imminent break out, the ground on which these characters find themselves are truly unsteady waters.

Lily is somewhat naïve to the world and you find yourself loving her for it, it makes her an honest narrator, if not always reliable given her limited knowledge of the world.  This novel is about so many things but what stood out for me was the personal journey of Lily who grows and has her eyes opened to the harsh realities of the world more in three weeks than she has her entire life.

Lily is more than a likable character, she is lovable.  I found myself wanting to protect her from the harsh reality of life.  She is still so childish in many ways which only goes to highlight the complex lives of the other people on board.  If only they had lived such a sheltered life as Lily, maybe they would be better for it.  Although we learn Lily is running and mourning her own drama, compared to the others it seems so innocent. 

Lily is truly like a central orb in this novel from which everyone rotates, all wanting and needing her for their own selfish gain.  However, Lily is not as weak as she may exude, after all she has chosen and made happen this adventure many would only dream about.

At the end of the book the author notes mention the novel is inspired by the real life diary of a young female passenger who really did embark on a personal journey to Australia and the novel is richer for it.  Beautiful vivid imagery combined with a powerful plot and complex yet likeable characters make this book a compelling read. 

And by the way, you may think you see that twist coming, but you really haven't...

A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys gets a Very Pink Notebook Review of :

Review : One Little Mistake by Emma Curtis

Published by : Penguin Random House

23 February 2017

Copy : Paperback - Received from publisher

The Blurb

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

When she risks everything she holds dear on a whim, there's only person she trusts enough to turn to.

But Vicky is about to learn that one mistake is all it takes; that if you're careless with those you love, you don't deserve to keep them . . .

The Very Pink Notebook Review

The blurb for this book is quite vague so I wasn't at all sure what to expect plot wise from this novel, but boy, it is packed full of story, twists and punchy characters.

Focussing on two women, Vicky and Amber, we follow their journey of consequences following a gargantuan error of judgement on the part of the former.  Vicky then finds herself getting entangled in a thick web of lies and deceit, eventually being left not knowing who she can actually trust.

The writing is very good and the plot is well woven and time-framed, moving along at a steady pace.  We are told the story in both first and third person, dependent on whose viewpoint we are looking at and in between that we are also taken back to the early 1990's, and told the very sad and traumatic history of one of the characters.  Eventually all of these things tie up together at the end for an explosive finale.

The author has done a great job with the characters, they are well developed and, particularly one, complex.  For me an excellent balance of both like and dislike for them has been created and I flip-flopped my sympathy around all over the place.

This is a really good psychological suspense novel from Emma Curtis and I look forward to future reads from her.

One Little Mistake receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of :

One Little Mistake is out in ebook : 23 February 2017 / Paperback 29 June 2017 from all good retailers.

About the Author

Emma Curtis was born in Brighton and brought up in London.  Her fascination with the darker side of domestic life inspired her to write One Little Mistake, her first psychological suspense.  She has two children and lives in Richmond with her husband.

Find her on Twitter : @emmacurtisbooks #OneLittleMistake

Review : Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy

Published : 09 April 2015

Chatto & Windus / Vintage (Penguin Random House)

Copy : Paperback - Reviewer purchase

The Blurb

London dances to the tune of Gorsky's billions.  The most enigmatic of oligarchs, Gorsky desires and get the best of everything and now he has his sights set on Natalia.  That is she married is an inconvenient detail.

Nick works in a shabby-chic bookshop.  When Gorsky approaches him with the commission of a lifetime, Nick suddenly gains access to the world of the wealthy and the beautiful.  But this privilege comes at a price and Nick finds his new life suddenly fraught with danger.

The Very Pink Notebook Review

I was purchasing another book and having a conversation with the book seller about my love of F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, when they suddenly thrust a copy of Vesna Goldsworthy's Gorsky at me.  I felt compelled to buy it, to see in what way it was similar and dissimilar to my beloved classic.

Similar it is.  Goldsworthy replicates each notable character with a 21st Century version, setting them all in the high society realms of London.  But essentially the plot is exactly mirrored, from the long lost love Gorsky has pinned his whole life and hope on, the murky and mysterious rumours that surround his wealth, the building of the dream home, from which he can spy on his love interest in her current life and having a useful aid in narrator Nicholas Kimovic living within his grounds and on his payroll and opening his sheltered and safe world to a whole other - and the list continues - Tom Summerscale, Natalia's husband for example, is having an affair with a 'lower class' women, whom he is pertinently open about with Nicholas, leaving him carrying around the secrets of more than one couple.

There is no doubt this is a blatant retelling of The Great Gatsby, there are no real dissimilarities or new entities involved, but as long as this is made clear to the reader prior to them deciding whether they want to read it or not I think it is fair.  And the retelling is done well.  The writing of Goldsworthy is decadent and elegant and a joy.  She has also made a few of her characters more palatable to me than the original (namely Natalia and Gergana Pekarova) - although the opposite was true for me of her star character - Gorsky is no Gatsby.

I really struggled to get my head around this being set in the modern day too, as some aspects for me, such as the setting of the bookshop - which is very important - instantly transported me back to the time of the original Gatsby for some reason - maybe I just couldn't allow my mind to leave the original alone enough.

If you struggle with period based classics, retelling a story can be a god-send.  I devoured and enjoyed this modern twist but it will never surpass the original, which I think I could read, literally every week to be honest.  But for a younger generation, this might be a wonderful way of encouraging them.  A way of enticing them in and piquing their interest in a set of generational novels they might previously have never looked twice at.

Gorsky receives a Very Pink Notebook rating of :