We Have Books

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.

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 However living in this gloomy and outdated home soon makes Eleanor in particular begin to feel distinctly une

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'

BLOG TOUR - The Lucky Ones by Mark Edwards I'm thrilled to kick start the blog tour for this brilliant book with my review. I'm fairly certain that if I start my review by saying Mark Edwards has a truly warped mind, he would take this as the huge compliment it is intended to be! How he dreamt up this twisty thriller I can't imagine. He gets deep inside the malformed psyche of a devilish serial killer to take the reader on a vivid and skin crawling journey of terror. Let me briefly introduce you to the authors work, whose page you can find here . He writes brilliantly different and terrifyingly unorthodox psychological thrillers, which have included Because She loves me , Follow you home and The Devils work . You can follow the links to read each of my reviews of his previous work and you just might come away with the idea that I'm already a big fan of this talented writer and you wouldn't be far wrong. So its always with a sense of worried anticipation that I open

Exquisite – Sarah Stovell – Review and Blog tour I’m so chuffed (do people still SAY chuffed these days?) to be part of the blog tour for this truly exquisite book! Certain to appeal to all keen readers and budding writers because its two lead characters are both authors, and absolutely guaranteed to enthrall those discerning folk who do pick it up and read it  owing to the wonderfully sublime writing and clever characterization within the pages. Bo is the first woman we meet. In her forties, she is already a successful, popular, published author with a string of books to her credit. Living in the tranquil and idyllic Lake district with her older husband and their two daughters, she is self-assuredly living the dream every fledgling writer fantasizes about. Every now and then she holds a creative writing course to help new talent emerge. Isn’t she just the perfect role model for a struggling, younger, would be author to admire? That emerging writer turns out to be Alice. She hasn’t yet

My Review Another terrific twisty tale from the writer who is becoming my go to author when I want to be certain of a damn good chilling read and a guaranteed shiver down my spine. A different take on the psychological thriller with two unique viewpoints and so many smokescreens to blind me to the truth I could smell the smoke on my clothes. Melanie waves goodbye to her young teenage daughter Beth one evening as she heads to her best friends house, little knowing that a living nightmare is about to begin and the next time she holds her daughters hand she will be in a coma, following a brutal attack which left Beth for dead lying in the dark and lonely fenland of Lincolnshire. Why on earth was she even there at the dead of night?  There are so many mysteries surrounding this crime its almost difficult to keep track of them but the authors skill makes the story flow so deliciously you hardly notice you’re being sucked deep into the story until you’re so wrapped up in it, it feels as thou

Review - Broken Branches M. Jonathan Lee This is a sinister psychological chiller with an eerie creeping sense of stomach turning unease. I thought it was going to be your traditional "couple buys spooky old house" story but it goes somewhat deeper than that. We certainly have a young family, living in a creepy old cottage known as Cobweb cottage, overlooked for centuries by a huge old tree. Ian and his wife Rachel with their little boy Harry moved into the home owned by Ians family for generations, following a family tragedy. It soon becomes clear that the tragedy which brought them here is not the only bad thing that's happened, but quite where the rot began is yet to be uncovered. Ian and Rachel are barely speaking any more. His work from home is beginning to suffer and his days are structured around waiting for his beloved son's return from nursery and the energy and love he injects into this rather glum and morose household and his rather frantic and disorganised