Blog Tour - The Last Village by Audla English

Blog Tour - The Last Village by Audla English

Today I'm joining the blog tour for the Last Village by Audla English and am happy to share my review to see if this lovely book tempts you too.

My Review

What drew me straight to this book like a moth to a flame is the setting in the North East of England, near where I live and set in locations where my own ancestors came from.

It’s not a long book so is perfect for a quick weekend read full of atmosphere which is quick to lose yourself in and easy to enjoy.

It is a dual timeline story set in the present day and 70 years earlier when the narrators grandmother reminisces about her earlier life.

There is plenty of romantic interest too as the book begins as modern day Anna is recently engaged and planning her wedding. This sets her Grandma Lillian off on a foray down memory lane to the 1940s when she was a young woman herself and times were very differ then. Living in the present day vicinity of the renowned landmark the Souter lighthouse, Lillian reminisces back to when the area was surrounded by a small close knit community of Old Marsden a former pit village typical of the North East, which now no longer exists. We visit many real locations including Souter lighthouse, Mardsen rocks and Marsden grotto all places I vaguely remember my own Mum talking about in her own past.

With a really strong empathy with the local area, the authors love for the North east shines through and the dialect and traditions are portrayed eloquently.

The main thing which comes through is the huge contrast in the lives of the two women, a mere 70 years separate them but the lives of the people living in the back to back houses of the old village were so very different yet in many ways simpler and despite being harder, remembered with such fondness. Its lovely and romantic and gently emotional.

It made me a little wistful and I wished I could have sat down with my lovely Grandma (who died when I was only seven) as I’m sure she would have had some wonderful similar tales of Northern life to tell.

Its just 2 lovely ladies sitting down and talking and we are afforded the privilege of listening in. Atmospheric, charming and very descriptive it’s a delightful look at the recent past and a testament to the North east of England.

The Blurb

CHILL WITH A BOOK AWARDS- PREMIER READERS' AWARD WINNER
2019 AMERICAN FICTION AWARDS FINALIST- ROMANCE: HISTORICAL

The majestic Souter Lighthouse stands proudly at the edge of the cliff top surrounded by open grassy empty fields and overlooking a vast blue wilderness. Anna Charles knows nothing of the life that her grandmother once had here. It wasn’t until an unexpected engagement, that Anna discovered the past of her Gran and the truth behind an enduring love.

Seventy years earlier, Lillian Smith, had been part of the close-knit community that once thrived in the village that existed next to the lighthouse. A chance meeting with a sailor one day, would change the course of her life forever.

A moving novel set in the North East of England. The Last Village is an enduring love story which spans the 1940's and modern day, binding the generations.

The Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Audla English grew up in the North East of England.

Born in Sunderland, a graduate of Newcastle University and living in South Tyneside, she is passionate about this wonderful region which acts as an inspiration to her writing.

Her award-winning debut novel 'The Last Village' is a dual time-line historical fiction and is written as a dedication to the now sadly demolished Old Marsden Village which was built by the Whitburn Coal Company in the 1870's. The Marsden Rock coastal setting is also used to weave a family saga style narrative around a beautiful part of north east England.

The novel is a moving love story about the life of Lily, a young woman growing up with her friends in 1945 whereas the other side of the story, in 2017, is about Anna and her own discovery of her grandmother's past life- it is a novel which spans and binds the generations through family and friendship.

Twitter @AudlaE
Website http://www.audlaenglish.co.uk/

Buy the book here

Read More

Two for the weekend - reviews of 2 forthcoming psychologically twisted novels

Two for the weekend are reviews of the latest 2 new psychological novels I've read.
Both books are dark and twisty and feature very flawed and damaged young women, There the similarity ends.

Firstly is The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobels

Here are my thoughts:

Dark and twisty

This is a deliciously dark and twisty psychological tale with not one but 2 devilishly complex and flawed female leads.

Rose Gold, who is now an adult, but when she was a child she was treated appallingly by her Mom Patty, who has served time for attempting to poison her only child. Although what she really seems to have done is poisoned her mind. For one woman is as bad as the other and you never quite know who is telling the absolute truth... who to have a little sympathy for... who is the most unreliable narrator... who is the sickest in the head!

It would seem that having served her time Patty is desperate to make amends with her daughter, denying the abuse she is accused of and insisting everything she has ever done was for the love of her daughter

Will she forgive and forget?

Rose Gold would appear to be ready to forgive and forget, but it's probably not as easy as that. She is alone, a single parent with a baby boy. How can she ever trust Patty around him?

A devilish twist

OMG this is one warped and sick, fiendishly twisty and utterly compelling read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it had a devilish twist I can't believe I didn't see coming.

The Blurb

Rose Gold Watts believed she was sick for eighteen years. She thought she needed the feeding tube, the surgeries, the wheelchair . . .

Turns out her mum, Patty, is a really good liar.

After five years in prison Patty Watts is finally free. All she wants is to put old grievances behind her, reconcile with her daughter and care for her new infant grandson. When Rose Gold agrees to have Patty move in, it seems their relationship is truly on the mend.

But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty won't rest until she has her daughter back under her thumb. Which is a smidge inconvenient because Rose Gold wants to be free of Patty. Forever.

Only one Watts will get what she wants.

Will it be Patty or Rose Gold?


Mother, or daughter?

My Second read is 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Damaged or disturbed?

Not sure exactly how I felt about this book about another flawed and damaged young woman, well written and gripping. Compelling reading, but I didn't find it so much shocking as just rather tragic and sad.

The story of a precocious teenage girl who seduces her middle aged teacher. Well that's how she sees it.
It's a teenage crush taken to obsession but who is obsessed with who? It jumps about in time quite a bit which I found a little confusing.

Vanessa was a schoolgirl of 15 when she began a long lasting affair with her teacher. She is an adult now still in touch with Jacob Strane, the teacher who everyone insists abused her, whilst she continues to view it as the love affair of her life.

Love? Or dark obsession?

It has certainly made a lasting impression on her, so much that she still keeps in touch with her lover and even when he is accused of similar acts that people have said he committed against her, she defends him vehemently.

The one thing which sustains her, even now she is a lonely grown woman who drinks too much, is her own conviction of her own power, the knowledge that she instigated everything, she used her attractiveness, her wiles, her seductiveness to woo him. She revels in the feeling that she is a bad girl and she always will be.

She sees herself as some kind of femme-fatale with this power over men, she harbours dark desires, she is Lolita, she is different, she is special .... (the reality is she is flawed and she is broken)

She is unable to sustain relationships because everything she does and everyone she grows close to pales in comparison with the intensity of feelings aroused by her illicit affair with this older man.

But undoubtedly he was culpable, he was the adult he should have known better and he should never, ever have given in to the temptation of taking this pretty young girl into his bed.

Having lasting repercussions this is one affair which was never going to end well for anyone involved.
Dark, moving and compulsive reading.

The Blurb

Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.

2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?


Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.

Read More

Blog Tour - The Rectors Daughter by Jean Fullerton - review

Blog Tour - The Rectors Daughter by Jean Fullerton - review

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour from Rachels Random Resources for the latest historical romance by Jean Fullerton - The Rector's Daughter.

This is a sweet, heartwarming, romantic historical saga and I’m sure fans of this genre will already be familiar with the author as she is a prolific and well-loved saga writer.

The rectors daughter of the title is Charlotte, the only daughter of reverend Percival Hatton, Rector of the title who is a very dislikeable character who’s nasty nature puts you firmly on Charlotte's side from the start. As she attends the opening of the new tunnel beneath the Thames we get an idea of what her life is like as she is bossed around and made to feel like a second class citizen. 

This story is set mainly in Rotherhithe, London in the early 19^thcentury when the ground breaking Rotherhithe tunnel under the River Thames was being constructed. Anyone familiar with the area will recognise well known landmarks and enjoy reading how it differed in the past from today.

There is thwarted love and plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading.

It’s a nice easy to follow story with a loveable handsome hero from a lower class than it is respectable for a well-bred young woman to fall in love with, so of course she does fall head over heels. Her snobbish father magicks up an unlikely and unlovable suitor for his daughter and banishes her to be wed post haste.

The plot is a little predictable but the story won’t fail to enchant readers of romantic sagas with lots of historical detail about the locations, well drawn and believable characters and a hero to rival Ross Poldark in your affections.

The Blurb

Charlotte, daughter of Reverend Percival Hatton, has been content to follow the path laid out for her. Charlotte has an understanding with Captain Nicolas Paget – every inch the gentleman – who she expects someday to marry. But then she meets Josiah Martyn, and everything changes...

A driven and ambitious Cornish mining engineer, and the complete opposite to Captain Nicholas, Josiah has come to London to help build the first tunnel under the river Thames. When unpredictable events occur at the inauguration of the project, Josiah and Charlotte are suddenly thrown into an unexpected intimacy.

 But not everyone is happy with Charlotte and Josiah growing closer. As friends turn to foes, will they be able to rewrite the stars and find their happy ever after, although all odds seem to be stacked against them…?

Buy the book here

Amazon UK - 

Amazon US -

Author Bio – Jean Fullerton is the author of thirteen novels all set in East London where she was born. She also a retired district nurse and university lecturer.  She won the Harry Bowling prise in 2006 and after initially signing for two East London historical series with Orion she moved to Corvus, part of Atlantic Publishing and is half way through her WW2 East London series featuring the Brogan family.

Jean Fullerton Author

Find her on Social media

Social Media Links –

Website:
Facebook: 

Twitter:  @JeanFullerton_

Why not support the blog tour by joining both my fellow bloggers who share todays tour date with me?

Joyful Antidotes

Black Books Blog

Read More

Blog Tour and Review of Mother and Child by Annie Murray

Blog Tour and Review of Mother and Child by Annie Murray

Today I am delighted to be part of the blog tour for Mother and Child by Annie Murray.
 I was invited by #LoveBooksTours and @panmacmillan and am thrilled that I loved the book.

My Review

I was ever so pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book. It flows beautifully and really appeals to me as most of the women in it are over 40.
It reminds me a lot of books I’ve read by Amanda Prowse. It’s a very emotional read dealing with some very dark subject matter but its written sensitively and with a deftness and skill that had me galloping through it.

It’s the story of Jo, a middle aged woman going through a dreadful crisis. She and her husband Ian have upped sticks and moved house, trying to create a new start for themselves at a time they are both still grieving over the pointless death of their teenage son Paul. Seething with grief and simmering with bitterness at the feckless youth who’s recklessness took the life of their beloved boy, they bumble from day to day with little to say to one another anymore.

Ian holds in his grief in a blokey manner, going to work in the small garage business he has built up, his grief simmering beneath the surface and threatening to erupt and overwhelm him. Jo can’t face her old job as a teacher, feels she has nothing in common with her friends and for a while her only company is Ian’s Mum Dorrie, ageing and rather frail. The 2 women are very close and as Jo draws strength from caring for Dorrie, the old lady begins to confide about her own past and losses to Jo. This part of the story caters somewhat to Annie Murrays saga fans and is evocative and holds a few mysteries and tragedies of its own as it unfolds.

Bit by bit Jo finds the strength to start trying to build a new life and in a moment of desperation signs up for a yoga class where she finds some great new friends and builds some inner strength.

She reads an article about a 30 year old tragedy in Bhopal India which strikes a chord featuring a photo of a boy who reminds her of Paul, she finds a little solace trying to help the people affected by this tragedy and finds it helps her come to terms with her own loss, little by little. The author has written this book to help raise awareness of this tragic event which 30 years on is still having dreadful repercussions and you can read more about this tragedy on her website and also find out more about her other books. 

This novel raises subjects like death of a child, loss, grief, suicide, depression and the aftermaths of industrial negligence so it was never going to be a light and fluffy read. 

However it’s also about friendship and support, rebuilding relationships and starting over.

The author, being an accomplished an popular saga writer is reaching out to a somewhat different audience with this book and its possible some of her die-hard fans may not adapt easily to this more contemporary type of novel. I loved it. 

The title refers to a statue raised for the survivors of the Bhopal disaster but is also relevant to the theme of a Mothers love for her child, which Jo feels for her son.



The Blurb

Jo and Ian’s marriage is hanging by a thread. One night almost two years ago, their only child, Paul, died in an accident that should never have happened. They have recently moved to a new area of Birmingham, to be near Ian’s mother Dorrie who is increasingly frail. As Jo spends more time with her mother-in-law, she suspects Dorrie wants to unburden herself of a secret that has cast a long shadow over her family.

Haunted by the death of her son, Jo catches a glimpse of a young boy in a magazine who resembles Paul. Reading the article, she learns of a tragedy in India . . . But it moves her so deeply, she is inspired to embark on a trip where she will learn about unimaginable pain and suffering.


As Jo learns more, she is determined to do her own small bit to help. With the help of new friends, Jo learns that from loss and grief, there is hope and healing in her future.

Read More