June's Jaunty Jottings (Reviews)

The Rose Garden – Susanna Kearsley

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When Eva's film star sister Katrina dies, she leaves California and returns to Cornwall, where they spent their childhood summers, to scatter Katrina's ashes and in doing so return her to the place where she belongs. But Eva must also confront the ghosts from her own past, as well as those from a time long before her own. For the house where she so often stayed as a child is home not only to her old friends the Halletts, but also to the people who had lived there in the eighteenth century.

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When Eva finally accepts that she is able to slip between centuries and see and talk to the inhabitants from hundreds of years ago, she soon finds herself falling for Daniel Butler, a man who lived - and died - long before she herself was born. Eva begins to question her place in the present, and in laying her sister to rest, comes to realise that she too must decide where she really belongs, choosing between the life she knows and the past she feels so drawn towards.

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My Review

A pleasant time slip story which started off a bit slow but made up for it in the final chapters. I always enjoy historical stories with the time slip element and this one was no exception. The Tea Room storyline had me spinning in my seat and I loved that extra bit of intrigue.

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Eva did annoy me at times, I am sure that in her place (finding myself suddenly in the 18th Century) I would have flipped out a bit more, and indeed, have spent quite a considerable amount of time wondering how the hell I was going to get back to my own time. This didn’t seem to concern her at all though.

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The final chapters were the best part of the book and I loved the way it all came together and tied up the loose ends.

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The Friendship Pact – Alison James

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I’m Lucy, and I have a secret. I have a beautiful home, that I’m desperate to escape. But that’s not my secret. I tell my friends I’ve never wanted children, when I always have. But that’s not my secret. My husband is a celebrated surgeon, who tries to control me. But that’s not my secret. - Adele knows. Once upon a time, I knew everything about her and she knew everything about me. Best friends forever. But now our secret is beginning to surface. I can trust her more than anyone. We made a pact. And she’s never do anything to hurt me. Would she?

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My Review

This book had quite a few “OMG why is she doing that?” moments for me but those moments were necessary for the story to keep unfolding. It’s a complicated story of trust and dishonesty which kept me eagerly turning pages until it was done.

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Alison James is a great storyteller and I am keen to read more of her work.

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The Liar’s House (Detective Gina Harte #4) – Carla Kovach

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Samantha stumbled out of the party and on to a busy street only ten minutes away from her home. But she never made it home… - Seven years after Samantha’s disappearance, on what would have been her thirty-fifth birthday, her best friend Diane is shocked to find a letter addressed to Samantha on her doorstep. - Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a finger nail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing. - When police analyse the nail, they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered….

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My Review

DI Gina Harte is fast becoming my favorite detective. These books just keep getting better. This one (the 4th in the series) drew me in with the poignant memories of a girl who disappeared, and kept me enthralled with the police procedures as the mystery unfolded. A thumping good read from a talented author.

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The Winter Sea – Susanna Kearsley

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In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown. - Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write. - But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth—the ultimate betrayal—that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her.

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My Review (Audible) I have wanted to read this for years and finally managed to snag a copy from Audible. It is a lovely story of love and loss, time-blend and history with a gentle heroine and an altogether more feisty author, and plenty of small glimpses of the connections between the two. I enjoyed the book but do think it might have suffered a bit through the narration which, although well done, felt a little staid and teacher-like to me.

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The Marriage Betrayal – Shalini Boyland

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Faye Townsend has planned the perfect summer trip for her family. But returning to the small seaside town her husband grew up in does not go to plan, the rain pours and the long days become stifling. And then the unthinkable happens… - Her husband Jake and her six-year-old son Dylan go for an early morning walk along the beautiful, windswept clifftops. They don’t come back. - As the hours tick by, Dylan’s red baseball cap is found on the beach and Faye finds herself being questioned by the police. They want to know everything about the man she married - is Faye ready to face her husband’s dark past? Or will she have to confront her own secrets first? - And just how far will a mother go to save her only child?

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My Review

A mesmerizing story of love and loss, liberty and pain. As a mother I totally felt Faye’s fear as she realized her son and husband were missing. As the tale unfolded and secrets were revealed I was swept up into the mystery and intrigue of an unimaginable act which knocked me for six. What a great read.

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The House – Eden Darry

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Sadie, Fin, and their two children were a perfectly ordinary family. Even if Fin felt taken for granted sometimes. Even if their introverted son, Liam, had terrible nightmares and knew things he shouldn’t. - But everything changes the night Sadie is viciously assaulted by former client Lance Sherry. Sherry knows where they live, and when the police fail to catch him, Sadie and Fin are forced to run. They think they’ve found the perfect place to start over. The house is everything Fin dreamed of, but as they settle in, Sadie discovers their home may not be what it seems, and daughter Lucy’s imaginary friend might not be imaginary at all. Or even a friend. With Lance Sherry hunting them, the house could be the least of their problems. He’s coming to finish what he started. And he won’t stop until he finds Sadie.

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My Review

A bit predictable with a formula that has been done many times before but still interesting enough to keep me reading. The characters were well defined and the story kept up a good pace, while at times it felt a little formulaic, there were enough original concepts which spiced up the tale. All in all I liked it and I will definitely keep an eye on this author.

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Forget Me Not – Claire Allan

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I disappeared on a Tuesday afternoon. I was there one minute and the next I was gone. They’ve never found my body… - It’s six in the morning during the hottest summer on record when Elizabeth O’Loughlin, out walking her dog, comes across Clare, a victim of a horrific knife attack, clinging onto life at the side of the road. - Clare dies minutes later, but not before whispering her haunting last words to Elizabeth. - When it becomes clear that Clare’s killer has more than one murder on his mind, Elizabeth has to take drastic action or face losing everything. But what if she can’t stop a killer determined never to be forgotten?

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My Review

This is the second of Claire Allan’s books that I have read and wow, it just keep me reading long after I should have turned out the light. This story had such a lot happening and I was hooked right from the first page. As the truth slowly came to light and the murderer was revealed I couldn’t put it down and eagerly kept reading until the final page. A truly great read.