The Roanoke Girls - Amy Engel

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The Roanoke Girls - Amy Engel



My review

Phew, this is one emotionally exhausting all consuming book. It's harrowing yet gentle, sad yet uplifting, its a contradiction in terms and I loved reading it.

It takes the deeply taboo and makes it feel like the norm. It immerses you in a world where nothing is as it should be, surrounds you with folk who live by unacceptable rules and makes you feel at home among them.

This is the story of the beautiful, rich and spoilt, daughters and granddaughters of the prosperous Roanoke family, whose wealthy lives out in the boondocks are privileged yet never to be envied.

Meet Lane, she's a Roanoke beauty, who's broken away from the luxurious family mansion to make her own way in the world. When she hears of the death of her childhood companion, her beloved cousin Allegra this means she feels obligated to return to Roanoke, the home of her rich grandparents to help her grandfather cope with his loss, for he adored her beloved Allegra too.

Lane wasn't born at the family mansion, her Mother struck out alone and Lane was raised up in a world of seedy apartments, of shifting moods, tears and depression, poverty and a distinct lack of affection. But all this ends at the age of fifteen after her mother commits suicide and Lane is offered a home where for a change she is welcome and wanted and loved. She has landed on her feet here, we think, the Roanoke girls want for nothing.

Moving fluidly back and forth in time the drowsy mesmeric quality of life one long hot summer erupts amidst secrets and lies. This is a coming of age with a difference.

The mystery which must be solved is what has happened to the missing woman Allegra? The question which are raised are what happened to

As Lane revisits her old haunts, rekindles an old flame and reluctantly becomes embroiled in the secretive and tenebrous world of Roanoke, the secrets buried beneath the veneer of respectability threaten to emerge and blow apart everything.

This is a hauntingly heartbreaking book of barely concealed deception, secretive lives and a few pretty despicable characters by whom I should have been angered but mainly pitied. 

Mussolini's Island Sarah Day - blog tour and my review

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Mussolini's Island - Sarah Day

Blog Tour



My review

A tension filled literary historical novel with depth and a revealing look at fascism.

The compelling and raw subject matter of this new work of historical literary fiction by author Sarah Day is extremely topical as we celebrate 50 years since the end to outlawing of homosexuality.



However this book takes us back to the 1930s and is set in Fascist Sicily where prejudice is still rife and homosexuality enough of a crime to warrant many young gay men being rounded up and imprisoned on a small island San Domino to be kept away from mainstream Italy. 

They are treated more like prisoners of war than actual criminals and have a certain amount of freedom to roam on the tiny island they all end up on, but their freedom is curtailed and resentment and anger simmers amongst these passionate and volatile young men ensuring a tense and exciting setting for this captivating debut novel.

Am I cynical, or is the very last thing you'd imagine doing with a group of young men who’s homosexual tendencies you are trying to stamp out, is send them all to a small island to live in one large room together with nobody else for company? but the tensions arise not just from physical attractions but volatile situations of political unrest.

Apparently this is exactly what happened, as the book is based very much on factual events. It’s a bold subject for a young, debut novelist to tackle and the author does a great job, it’s well written and makes for compelling and convincing reading.

But, Oh boy, did I have to step outside my comfort zone for this when what I imagined was going to be an easy summer read was for me, rather difficult.

Not because of any prejudice, nor because of any graphic sex, as there isn't any (In fact the book is very circumspect given its edgy subject matter and themes of sexuality) but because I have no prior knowledge of Fascism or of Sicily and there were many, many unfamiliar words and terms, names and places I’ve never before come across that I kept having to look up and this interrupted the flow somewhat. In fact the very first sentence threw me, throwing ‘pederasty’ and ‘confino’ into my list of “what I wouldn’t give for a glossary” terms.

There are a lot of characters introduced in the first few chapters, all young men with complicated names, most with nicknames and nom de plumes which they are also referred to as - so I didn’t know who was who or what was what for quite some time but it falls into place and the tension and pace builds as the story unfolds.

The lead characters are Francesco a young man whose past keeps trying to catch up with him and Elena a naïve local island girl, who longs for escape and freedom. She takes a shine to Francesco and is unable to work out why he is not as she would expect a young man to be. She becomes a go between, risking a lot to carry messages, without her brutish father discovering her duality. But her ignorance might become her undoing.

The story builds towards a cruel deception and betrayal and though never an easy read it’s certainly different, informative and sympathetically written and will enthrall readers with a love of Italy or an interest in the rise of fascism.

Cover Reveal - Lost in the lake - A J Waines

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Today I am delighted to announce the cover reveal for the forthcoming new novel by one of my favourite Authors A J Waines:

AJ Waines has sold over 400,000 books worldwide and topped the UK and Australian Kindle Charts in 2015 & 2016 with her number one bestseller, Girl on a Train. Following fifteen years as a psychotherapist, she is now a full-time novelist with publishing deals in France, Germany, Norway, Hungary and USA (audiobooks).


Her fourth psychological thriller, No Longer Safe, sold over 30,000 copies in the first month, in thirteen countries. AJ Waines has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Times and was ranked a Top 10 UK author on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) in 2016. She lives in Hampshire, UK, with her husband. Visit her websiteand blog, or join her on Twitter, Facebookor on her Newsletter.  



Here's the blurb for her new thriller: Lost in the lake, I am really looking forward to getting stuck into it, having met Sam Willerby in Inside the whispers - you can read my review of this book here

Lost in the Lake by A J Waines


She came at first for answers…now she’s back for you

Amateur viola player Rosie Chandler is the sole survivor of a crash which sends members of a string quartet plunging into a lake. Convinced the ‘accident’ was deliberate, but unable to recall what happened, she is determined to recover her lost memories and seeks out clinical psychologist, Dr Samantha Willerby.

But Rosie is hiding something…

Sam is immediately drawn to the tragic Rosie and as she helps her piece the fragments together, the police find disturbing new evidence which raises further questions. Why is Rosie so desperate to recover her worthless viola? And what happened to the violin lost in the crash, worth over £2m?

When Rosie insists they return to the lake to relive the fatal incident, the truth about Rosie finally creeps up on Sam – but by now, she’s seriously out of her depth…

The second book in the Dr Samantha Willerby series, Lost in the Lake is a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat Psychological Thriller that will leave you glancing over your shoulder.

Pre-Order on Amazon from 13 July 2017
Find all books by AJ Waines here
Release date: 7 Sept 2017

and finally here is the fab cover



Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine - Gail Honeyman - captivating

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Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine - Gail Honeyman



My thoughts

This is one of those books which is pretty hard to categorize. It turned out to be not quite what I was expecting - but in a good way. I read a description which called it a laugh out loud comedy and this very nearly put me off! Yes it has some hilarious moments but mainly it is deeply emotional, with some quite dark moments and I was unable to completely put aside the fact that Eleanor is the way she is, as a survivor of something quite dreadful which is a very dark layer to the book.

Eleanor is a wonderful quirky character, she never quite fits in, she won't conform, she sees the world differently to most people and behaves in unusual ways, reacting to everyday occurrences with bewilderment and inappropriate attitudes, she is lonely and isolated and in some ways is like an elderly woman in others like a newborn, very innocent and childlike. Her social graces aren't just lacking they are practically non existent.

Anyone who has ever worked in a large office based organisation will recognize Eleanor, she is the hard working, slightly weird spinster whose eccentric manner of dress and speech and mannerisms makes us roll our eyes, but its all right because she just gets on with her job and we don't HAVE to include her in our conversations, we don't have to sit with her in the canteen and we certainly don't have to get to know her!

Eleanor's life centres around her unfulfilling job, with colleagues she just can't seem to figure out, who don't include her and often mock and even bully her. Then she goes home to her non existent social life, to spend time in her shabby single flat furnished with cast offs, pour a glass (or three) of vodka and waits for the weekend to disappear before returning to her desk to do it all over again. I bet there are far too many of us who can relate to ALL of this!

But we mustn't forget her weekly phone call to Mother, nasty Mother, sly Mother, loathsome Mother, but she is Eleanors only relative and above all else she is a dutiful daughter.

But Eleanors life is about to change and it's all because of a man! She is ready to fall in love, when she comes across her perfect man and gradually begins to blossom.

Yes, this is romantic fiction but it is also one of the most profound books I've ever read too. I defy anyone to read this and not warm to Eleanor after an initial bafflement and frustration at her idiosyncrasies. I laughed, groaned, smiled and sobbed in equal measure as Eleanor tore my heart to pieces and made me feel guilty for not being more tolerant to people who don't follow my rule book.

There aren't enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe how utterly captivating and delightful I found this book to be. So just read it - I'm sure it won't disappoint.


Review - the Upstairs Room - Kate Murray-Browne - unsettling

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Review - the Upstairs Room - Kate Murray-Browne


A macabre, chilling and unsettling debut novel, The Upstairs Room is a contemporary take on the classic "young couple move into a new home that turns out to have something sinister lurking upstairs".

Eleanor and husband Richard have found their new family home for themselves and their 2 young daughters. They know it will be a struggle financially to buy in a desirable area of London so they settle for an older property that "needs a bit doing" well frankly it needs quite a lot of renovation and redecoration but they're young and enthusiastic and it can be a project for them to enjoy together.

Bit it becomes more of a money pit than they imagined, and in order to keep their heads above water they rather reluctantly sub-let the basement to a young woman lodger and into the periphery of their lives comes Zoe. However living in this gloomy and outdated home soon makes Eleanor in particular begin to feel distinctly uneasy, in fact she begins to be frequently ill and fears its the house affecting her health.

Plans to renovate are soon shelved and even redecorating the dark and outdated decor is beyond their means and the rooms remain gloomy and the unnerving scribble which adorns in particular an unused attic bedroom with the name Emily scrawled repeatedly together with disquieting drawings has to remain. Eleanor begins to find this writing concealed elsewhere in the house too.

Whilst Eleanors life crumbles and Richard grows ever more distant, obsessed with planning and pointlessly plotting the elaborate restoration project which seems doomed to never happen. Their lodger Zoe's life seems to be taking a turn for the better, she gets a new job, OK it's not very stimulating and her lodgings aren't quite the chic city apartment she dreamed of but when a new man enters her life and romance seems likely, she feels quite settled ... or does she? Is the house somehow influencing everyone who lives there?

It certainly seems to be having an adverse effect, even on the little girls, whose increasingly difficult behaviour becomes almost the final straw for struggling Mum Eleanor.

All the way through the book is a creeping sense of unease and terror and the puzzle of whether it is in fact the house to blame, or the people within it?

Its creepy and scary and gives you that lump in your throat which gulping hard just can't quite shift.

I did consider the ending a little rushed and not quite as explosive as I hoped but the whole book is filled with creeping menace and subtle insinuations and its a real page turner that's sure to entertain and really makes you think how you'd react in some of the situations. The subtly flawed characters and the macabre location combine to create an engaging work of psychological horror.

The Blurb

Eleanor, Richard and their two young daughters recently stretched themselves to the limit to buy their dream home, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in East London. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and becomes convinced it is making her ill. Whilst Richard remains preoccupied with Zoe, their mercurial twenty-seven-year-old lodger, Eleanor becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the house’s previous owners – including Emily, whose name is written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room.


Review - He Said She Said - Erin Kelly - darkly convoluted

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My review of He Said, She Said by Erin Kelly

Wow - wonderful twisty read, blew my socks off. 

It's not often that I finish a book and can't really find words to write a review straight away. But I loved this book so much I had to take a step back and examine what I thought or just babble away senselessly. 

Its delightfully different and darkly convoluted. It actually took me a little while to get into it at the beginning as it's deliberately written in several voices from different viewpoints and jumps back and forth several years and it does take a while to get into the rhythm, but when you do boy does it grab you and just won't let go!

We begin our tortuous journey by being introduced to a young couple, Laura who is pregnant and her partner Kit who is heading off across the seas to witness an eclipse. For that is what this young couple do as a hobby, they are eclipse chasers and travel all over the world joing festivals and celebrations and watching eclipses. They've always travelled together but heavily pregnant Laura is staying home this time whilst Kit goes off. It's immediately apparent that something untoward has happened in their past to make them distrustful of strangers, paranoid and both trying to keep a very low profile.

As we whip back and forth over about 15 years, we discover that at one such festival the pair witnessed a shocking and unpleasant event in addition to the eclipse. They stumble across a degrading and violent sex attack and Lauras determination to ensure justice is brought to bear makes her act somewhat rashly and utter words that are set to haunt her.

Back and forth in time we go whilst the noose tightens, events grow more complicated. I began to mistrust folk, then evidence is presented that made me change my mind, again and again until I didn't know who I could believe any more.

This is an extremely clever psychological twister and illustrate that when everything hinges on what he said and what she said, just a few tiny words can make a vast difference to how we perceive things.

There are so many smoke screens and distractions I didn't see a couple of things coming til they smacked me in the face and even then when I thought smugly I'd sussed everything out along comes another curved ball for me to deftly duck.

Clever, crafty and conniving, a terrific heart stopping novel tackling taboo subjects and with some delightfully unreliable narrators and a final kick up the bum that has my cheeks still smarting!

The Blurb

In the hushed aftermath of a total eclipse, Laura witnesses a brutal attack. She and her boyfriend Kit call the police, and in that moment, it is not only the victim's life that is changed forever. Fifteen years on, Laura and Kit live in fear, and while Laura knows she was right to speak out, the events that follow have taught her that you can never see the whole picture: something, and someone, is always in the dark.