My personal top ten books of 2019

My top ten reads 2019:

Everybody's doing it! Compiling lists of their top 10 top 20 or top whatever reads of the year. I usually do this so here are my very best reads of the last 12 months, They are the books I've completely enjoyed reading and which have stayed with me.

Some of them have been books I reviewed as part of blog tours and as always I am very grateful to be included in events for new books. Others are books I chose to read just because they called out to me or because I heard about them from book loving friends. 

I adore books which take me on a journey, whether that is a virtual journey to pastures new from my armchair or an emotional journey, here are the books which carried me away this year.

I have reviewed them either here on my blog, or on Goodreads.

Thankyou to everyone who has helped me discover these books I've loved, I hope this list might help you find one or two too. Click on the book title to be taken to my original blog post and review.

In no particular order they are:

The Glittering Hour - Iona Grey:

My thanks go to Anne Cater of #Randomthingstours for introducing me to this wonderful romantic novel which took me on a journey of the heart.

"an utterly delightful love story, revealed in spoonfuls that I guzzled down. It honestly made my heart ache"

The Giver of Stars - Jojo Moyes:

It wouldn't be a list of my favourites if it didn't have at least one book by the wonderful Jojo Moyes who gets it bang on every time.

"heart-warming and lovely, a stunning story, filled with wonderful characters, diverse women and a few totally vile men"

The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow

A wonderful fantasy for all ages to rival His Dark Materials, a journey of magical new worlds.

"As soon as I started it, I slipped into a magical world where Doors to other worlds exist"

One for The Blackbird One for The Crow - 

Here to Stay - Mark Edwards

Thrillers by Mark Edwards are always deliciously dark, very twisty and somewhat manic. This one is no exception.

"This is a brain-numbingly intense read, that creates the inlaws from hell, brings them into your beautiful posh house and when you're ready to scream with frustration the bloodshed begins"

Bone China - Laura Purcell

Wow!! @SpookyPurcell does it again, delves into the past and pulls out a ripe juicy plum of a story which carried me back in time.

"Haunting and mesmerising, Bone China is set over 2 historical periods of time 40 years apart."

A Transcontinental Affair - Jodi Daynard

A sweeping historical romance taking me on an epic journey across 1970s USA on the Pullmann Express.

"The main characters are wonderful, especially the women. and I was rooting for Louisa especially"

The Gates of Eden - Nadine LeCheminant

This book took me on a journey of hope and discovery by wagon train, based on the Authors true family history I loved every step of the way.

A story about everyday folk making a pioneering epic trek, overcoming desperation and hardship.

One for the Blackbird one for the Crow - Olivia Hawker

Set in Wyoming this historical novel is a haunting story about friendship and forgiveness.

"lyrical in the lavish and haunting descriptiveness of the wildness of the vast prairie"

The Whisper Man - Alex North

"Whisper man is a fabulous crime thriller which scared me witless and has me in tears more than once."

Attend by West Camel

And last but not least a book i really loved but haven't yet written a lengthy review for as it was just so good it left me lost for words, quirky and different I highly recommend this one.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey - my #bookreview for a #randomthingstour

The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey - my #bookreview for a #randomthingstour

My thoughts on this wonderful book

As an impassioned devourer of historical fiction, I was intrigued and delighted to receive an invitation to read The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey and join in the blog tour.

What I thought, was that it might be a sweet, glitzy romance, an enjoyable read. I wasn’t even that positive about the era it's set in – the roaring twenties is perhaps not my period of history, of choice (or maybe that should read wasn’t)

What I didn’t realise is the HUGE impact this book would have on me. Probably the MOST romantic love story I’ve ever read and the most utterly heartbreaking too. The authors' wonderful skill is so great that I actually became the main character, Selina for the duration of the book. 

It begins with a lonely 9-year-old, Alice, missing her Mum who has gone away on a business trip with Papa. Left in the dauntingly huge stately home of her austere and remote grandparents, with a stern governess to care for her, her unaffectionate grandparents and the occasional tenderness of her mother’s loyal maid Polly.

Miserable and lost, Alice seizes on the chance to occupy her time until her beloved mother Selina returns, by throwing herself wholeheartedly into a mysterious treasure hunt, left by her mother with clues provided by Polly which lead Alice to discover, in glimpses, the story of Selina’s earlier years. As she discovers hints and clues, we the reader, are treated to a little more depth of detail about this engaging young woman’s youth.

In the 1920s Selina was one of the bright young things, whiling away her time in a flurry of parties, and high spirited japes, often fuelled by alcohol and occasional brushes with drugs, sex and drunken car chases. Always in the news and not always for the right reasons, she is a flibbertigibbet, shallow and spoilt.

With her close friend Flick by her side the two young women dance, laugh and party like there’s no tomorrow, mixing with the well to do and wealthy in whose circle they move.

Circumstances suddenly throw Selina in the path of a handsome and pretty darned gorgeous painter Lawrence. But being from a different class entirely, the two can never be friends or even seen speaking in public. It’s one thing for a young woman of class to be seen falling about drunk at a party (as long as the RIGHT kind of people are at the party) It would be quite another for 2 people of obviously different ends of the social scale to be at the same party and actually socialise – now that WOULD be frowned on!

But as is the way of the world the 2 are drawn to each other like moths to a destructive flame.

What follows is an utterly delightful love story, revealed in spoonfuls that I guzzled down. It honestly made my heart ache.

The stories of then and now begin to intertwine, mysteries unfold and little pieces of my heart began to break off as it becomes apparent that a happy ending is unlikely and not quite everything is exactly as it seemed. 

There are some very poignant scenes in the latter portion of the book, which I defy even the most hard-hearted reader not to shed a tear at. But if you’re that unemotional, perhaps this isn’t the book for you, it is unashamedly romantic and a real tearjerker. 

This IS a book for anyone who has ever loved, lost or dreamt of something they can’t have. 

It’s a book to read at night, tucked under the duvet with a big box of tissues. (Oh yes I ugly-cried myself to sleep over this book - Waaahhh)

It’s about enduring love, abiding friendship secrets and loss. With a nod to the changing roles of women and society and a reminder of how times have changed, a few lovely little twists along the journey, adorable Alice and Selina whom I wanted to despise for her apparent brittle shallowness and instead loved for her rich depth and tenacity.


It is delightful, it is beautifully written, it is immaculately atmospheric and it is perfectly charming. Can you tell I loved it? Go ahead read it, if you’ve got this far I know you’ll love the Glittering hour too.

Thank you to @Annecater of Randomthingstours for including me on this tour and introducing me to a book which is a strong contender for my book of the year.

Oh and the cover is divine too dahhling!

The Blurb

The epic and long-awaited new romance from the author of Letters to the Lost, winner of the RNA Award. 

1925. The war is over and a new generation is coming of age, keen to put the trauma of the previous one behind them. 
Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing whose life is dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure; to parties and drinking and staying just the right side of scandal. Lawrence Weston is a struggling artist, desperate to escape the poverty of his upbringing and make something of himself. When their worlds collide one summer night, neither can resist the thrill of the forbidden, the lure of a love affair that they know cannot possibly last. 
But there is a dark side to pleasure and a price to be paid for breaking the rules. By the end of that summer everything has changed. 
A decade later, nine year old Alice is staying at Blackwood Hall with her distant grandparents, piecing together clues from her mother’s letters to discover the secrets of the past, the truth about the present, and hope for the future.

The Author and links

Iona Grey has a degree in English Literature and Language from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She lives in rural Cheshire with her husband and three daughters. 

She tweets @iona_grey.

The book on Amazon

The Publisher Simon and Schuster

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My Review of A Transcontinental Affair by Jodi Daynard

Review of A Transcontinental Affair by Jodi Daynard

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical drama about a forbidden affair that develops between two passengers on the first coast to coast across the USA train journey by Pullmann express in 1870.

People from quite different backgrounds and situations are thrown together in a small space and passions are aroused.

The book is extremely well written and the locations they travel to and through are beautifully descriptive so I felt I was there with them, travelling across the USA in this newest form of transport, seeing places one could probably only have dreamt of. It's made me long to do this same trip myself today although the charm of the book is in that it is so undiscovered and new. 

The main characters are wonderful, especially the women. and I was rooting for Louisa especially.


I have read some really fabulous books from Lake Union publishing recently and this is another really great read.

This was one of Amazon's Prime Reads offerings and I urge you to give it a try.

Here's the blurb from Goodreads

A sweeping tale of adventure and danger, innovation and corruption, and two women whose lives intertwine in unexpected ways on America’s first transcontinental train trip

May 1870. Crowds throng the Boston station, mesmerized by the mechanical wonder huffing on the rails: the Pullman Hotel Express, the first train to travel from coast to coast. Boarding the train are congressmen, railroad presidents, and even George Pullman himself. For two young women, strangers until this fateful day, it’s the beginning of a journey that will change their lives.

Sensitive Louisa dreads the trip, but with limited prospects, she’s reluctantly joined the excursion as a governess to a wealthy family. Hattie is traveling to San Francisco to meet her fiancé, yet she’s far more interested in the workings of the locomotive than she is in the man awaiting her arrival. As the celebrated train moves westward, the women move toward one another, pulled by an unexpected attraction.


But there is danger in this closeness, just as there is in the wilds of the frontier and in the lengths the railroad men will go to protect their investments. Before their journey is over, Louisa and Hattie will find themselves very far from where they intended to go.

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