My Review for The Girl in the Photo by Catherine Hokin

I absolutely love the cover of this book! I’m not particularly maternal, but it makes me want to scoop the child up in my arms and protect her forever. The Girl in the Photo is my first Catherine Hokin novel and although it’s the third in a series, it absolutely doesn’t matter if you haven’t read any of the others. However, I guarantee that once you’ve read one, you’ll want to read more.

It’s 1950, and five years after the end of the Second World War. Hanni and Freddy are happily married until something happens at Hanni’s first photographic exhibition that will change both of their lives and something that will force the truth to come out. 

There are many characters in The Girl in the Photo that you will despise and only a few you will grow fond of. Catherine Hokin makes this decision easy for you as she throws herself into her characters and brings them to life on the page. I travelled along with Hanni and Freddy and it was so easy to feel what they were feeling. I wanted to be with them every step of the way to help them in their quest. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Girl in the Photo by Catherine Hokin.

Book Description

1944. ‘I have to go away, my darling. Please, be brave, stay alive, for me.’ Her mother’s voice breaks. The little girl tries to stop the forbidden tears from falling, as the train takes her mother, and she is left alone in the camp…

Berlin, six years later. When Hanni Winter shows her new husband the heartbreaking photos she captured during the war, his reaction is unexpected. His face white, Freddy can’t take his eyes off the photo of a young girl around four years old. ‘That’s Renny,’ he whispers, ‘my sister, she was taken by the Nazis…’

Hanni remembers her perfectly – the child with the wide eyes and bitten lips, who wouldn’t let herself cry despite the chaos and cruelty all around them in the camp. Her heart had broken for the little girl as she took her picture, desperate to reveal the truth about the Nazis to the world. If that child is Renny, then they must try to find her. They must return to hell on earth.

But when Hanni arrives at the black and white arch of the camp, she comes face to face with a man she fears more than any other. Can she find the strength to fight again, or will every hope for the future be lost forever?

A heart-wrenching novel about love and courage in the face of terrible odds. Fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and The Tattooist of Auschwitz will need a box of tissues handy.

Author Bio

I seem to have followed a rather meandering career, including marketing and teaching and politics (don't try and join the dots), to get where I have always wanted to be, which is writing historical fiction. I am a story lover as well as a story writer and nothing fascinates me more than a strong female protagonist and a quest. Hopefully those are what you will encounter when you pick up my books.

I am from the North of England but now live very happily in Glasgow with my American husband. Both my children have left home (one to London and one to Berlin) which may explain why I am finally writing. If I'm not at my desk you'll most probably find me in the cinema, or just follow the sound of very loud music.

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My Review for Perfect by Suzy England

I love finding new authors. Suzy England is an excellent find and Perfect is a brilliant book! Will and Rebecca are the main characters in Perfect and, in a roundabout way, are the main characters in Rebecca’s new, bestselling novel which is based around her and the people she has in her life, both past and present.

Full of love, laughter, anger and tears, Perfect is a lovely way to spend a couple of frosty UK days (and nights) and for the first time in a long time, I stayed up way past my bedtime to find out what the author had in store for Will and Rebecca. I was mad at them both, and they just needed their heads banging together to make them see sense. I recommend you go out and get yourself a copy of Perfect and find out for yourselves just how frustrating but also how loveable they both could be!

Thank you to Suzy England for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Perfect.

Book Description

From Tall Poppy Writer and Wattpad Star Suzy England comes the emotional look into the marriage of Rebecca and Will Albright. They seem to have everything, but there’s much brewing beneath the surface of their PERFECT facade.

Rebecca Albright has it all: a beautiful home, a spot on the New York Times Bestsellers list, and a successful husband by her side. From the outside looking in, her life is perfect.

When her debut novel rockets into an overnight success, Rebecca becomes a media darling. Travel, press, and book business devour her life, driving a wedge into her marriage. Family secrets unravel, and their union begins to fall apart.

When her ex-husband, Kelly Glass, suddenly comes back into the picture, behaving like the man she always dreamed he would be, Rebecca has a choice to make.

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My Review for That Night at the Beach by Kate Hewitt

Everyone should judge a Kate Hewitt book for themselves. I don’t read reviews because many of them contain spoilers and I’d always much rather go into a book without knowing what happens. That Night at the Beach is no different. You’ll be drawn in so much more if you do not know what is coming next....and I guarantee, you probably won’t have a clue what is coming next.

Full of anger, emotions, and teenage (and adult) hormones. That Night at the Beach will send you on a whirlwind of your own emotions as you try to comprehend what Rose, Cara, Finn, Henry, Bella and Elspeth are dealing with. Both families have been friends for years, but something happens ‘That Night at the Beach’ that changes everything for everyone - forever.

If you love Kate Hewitt, then go out and buy yourself a copy of her latest book. If this is your first time reading one, why not start with this one?

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of That Night at the Beach by Kate Hewitt.

Book Description

As mothers, we never dare to delve into our worst-nightmare scenarios. What if… we might murmur to each other, and then shake our heads, telling ourselves it’ll never happen to us if we’re just good enough mothers. Yet here we are. And the steady beep of the heart monitor is the only evidence the child in front of us is alive…

It’s Labor Day weekend, so of course we went to the beach. Like we do every year. For a barbecue picnic with my best friend Rose. It’s the perfect tradition—drinks, games, burgers, music, laughter. Together with our husbands, my two teenage sons and her two daughters, we all arrived as the sun was still shimmering over the water, the whole evening ahead of us.

But nothing goes to plan. Old secrets emerge, and tempers flare. And so we parents decide to leave the beach, telling the teenagers to enjoy themselves, reassuring them someone will be back to collect them in an hour or two.

But when I return a little while later, I know something is really wrong. Our teens are slurring their words, stumbling to the car. It’s clear they have been drinking and I’m shocked. I never expected our kids to behave this way. I’m bracing myself to have firm words with them in the morning, but the next day my concerns fade to nothing when seventeen-year-old Bella claims my son Finn assaulted her.

Finn insists he would never do that. And I so want to believe him. Because I brought my son upright. Because a mother would know, wouldn’t she?

What I don’t know is that the answer to what happened that night on the beach may be a matter of life and death for one of our beloved children…

An absolutely heartbreaking story about friendship, parenting and betrayal. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jojo Moyes and Susan Lewis.

Author Bio

Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.

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My Review for Will There be Wine by Whitney Cubbison

This is such an awesome debut novel and I’m chuffed that the author reached out to me and asked me if I would read and review a copy of Will There be Wine. It took me longer than it usually does to read a book, as I spent the first two weeks of January in Las Vegas. However, this meant I could enjoy Austen’s dating shenanigans for longer, and after an exhausting day wandering the strip, what better way to relax than to dive into a Paris rom-com!

Austen is a Texan, living in Paris and after separating from her husband, she is back on the dating scene, but she is finding that French men are very different from the Americans she is used to! 

Whitney Cubbison made me laugh out loud with the telling of her dating adventures of Austen and there were a couple of ‘hand over the mouth’ moments when I thought, ‘wow, you go for it girl’! 

Will There be Wine would make a great movie, and with every page turn I could imagine it playing out on the big screen.  I'm hoping a screenwriter will read the book and agree!

How successful will Bumble be for Austen? You need to go out and grab yourself a copy of this book as soon as you can and find out for yourself and travel alongside Austen’s friends as they fully support her on her dating journey!

Thank you so much to Whitney Cubbison for the opportunity to read and review a copy of her debut novel, Will There be Wine. I hope there is another offering in the pipeline because I’m sure it’ll be as good as the first.

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My Review for Off the Deep End by Lucinda Berry

I’m pretty sure that Off the Deep End is my first Lucinda Berry read, however, it won’t be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fast-paced and a real page-turner, it became pretty dark as the story progressed, but this made it even more thrilling for me.

It all began with two mothers, Amber and Jules, and two sons, Gabe and Isaac, but what happened, and how did it end? Told from the point of view of both mothers in alternating chapters, we discover very different versions of a similar story and many times I wanted to tell both of them to get a grip and start behaving like adults. I mean, do innocent people really need to hide stuff from the police? 

There are lots of plot twists and turns, some I was expecting and some, not so much so but each added to the overall enjoyment of the book. 

If you like a psychological thriller with hundreds of plot changes, then check out Off the Deep End by Lucinda Berry. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to listen to and review an ARC of Off the Deep End by Lucinda Berry.

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