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Sorry it is early but so much going on in my life at the moment and the 5th is a bit close to when we go away again for the funeral.

Please review any of the following.

The Letter - Kathryn Hughes

The Story of Us by Dani Atkins


The year I met you by Cecelia Ahern
The flavours of love by Dorothy Koomson
The unseen by Katherine Webb.

review The Flavours of Love by Dorothy Koomson

I love her books she tells a great story and her characters are spot on. Teenage. Phoebe is so true to life with her attitude re her problems, her refusal to discuss them and her fear of what will happen. Loved Aunt Betty, what a character. There is so much in this story, the love story, teenage angst, and the spooky and chilling stalking story.

So very well written and I really enjoyed it. Some intriguing recipes add to the whole, well worth a read.

Greaders review The Letter by Kathryn Hughes
When I started to read this I thought it was ok for a light read. I do like stories that cover two timescales although these are close enough to overlap.
I have not read anything by this author before so didn’t know what to expect. Her characters are very believable and the descriptions of both Cristina and Tina’s lives were very graphic in places which made for uncomfortable reading. This however was necessary for the story. I liked the way the prologue and epilogue together rounded the story up. I even had to turn back to re-read the prologue just for enjoyment of closure and/or beginning of the story.
To go back to my first paragraph, I thought it was a light read. But it wasn’t, many books have been written about abused wives (sometimes husbands too) and that is what I assumed the main point of the story was going to be. But, shades of Philomena, it wasn’t. It covered the way unmarried mothers were treated in Ireland, how they were put into convents, kept there long enough to become attached to their children and then torn apart from them with the blessing of the Catholic Church, including the collusion of priests who convinced themselves it was all for the good.
And then there is the hunt by William for his mother, rounding the story with a happy ending. There was a lot of research put into this story, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. A very good read.


review The Story of Us by Dani Atkins.

There are a rollercoaster of emotions in this book. A love story, a tragic death, a heroic rescue, betrayal, a broken romance, a horrible illness, they are all there.
The story is very well written and I couldn’t tell how it was going to end until almost there. I liked the way we were in the past and the present, the beginning and the end of Emma’s story. Loved the beautifully portrayed characters, so true to life. Wanted to hug Emma’s Mum and to alternately slap and hug Richard. Loved Jack’s character, sympathised with Emma’s Dad. Somehow I didn’t warm to Caroline and wished I had been able to get to know Amy better.
I loved it and will look out for any more written by Danu A.

Hi Ann I have done one in the middle of the other will be done a little later tonight promise <3

No rush Mersey, it is early.

Review of The Story of Us by Dani Atkins.

Emma and her friends are driving her home from a hen party when there is an awful accident.....One of her friends is actually killed in the accident which has a story within hits self regarding the outcome of her friends death. Emma was rescued by Jack, an intriguing, loving character. She is then torn between her feeling for her rescuer Jack and her boyfriend. I loved this book a very easy read with twists and turns and , a great story and really enjoyed it....I was gripped to the very end !!



The Letter - Kathryn Hughes

I like AnninGlos had to go back and forth a few times to re-read parts of this book. At first I thought I had actually read this before, it was not but something very very similar. Had me in a spin at times and sometimes lost concentration.....

The main character Tina is married to Rick in the 1970's and what she goes through with abuse , physical and mental abuse.Rick is a true bully but she lives with it because she feels she has too and there is no other way out.
Tina works voluntary in a charity chop were she finds an unopened letter in a suit pocket...she decided to open it and so the story then begins from the letter in 1939 onwards..... The Letter in my eyes is an ok book, but does need alot of concentration....

Review of Dorothy Koomson's The Flavours of Love

Saffron is the main character and her husband was murdered and she and her daughter at her daughter's request keep the murderer's identity a secret, ( her daughter suspected and had seen her father with the killer.) It is eighteen months after his death that Saffron is called to the school and upon entering the Principal's office she is confronted with him and her daughter's teacher.. her daughter Phoebe aged 14 is sitting there.. Phoebe has told her teacher she is pregnant. Her mother knew nothing.

I have got used to Dorothy Koomson's style of writing she jumps back and forth and whilst she gives a date and reference as in 11 days before the knowledge of the pregnancy. You find yourself trying to remember when and where as well.
There is so much going on in this puzzle, Saffron's relationship with her husband's parents, her relationship with her daughter, her daughter's teacher, her husband's best mate and there is also her son who does not always get a look in, so complex is the tale. Her husband's Aunt ends up living with them after being found in a compromising position with another resident in the third or fourth resthome she has been in. Apparently she has been in a lot of these positions but this one I believe was on the Manager's desk.. I think anyone would warm to her... she bucks the system.

The killer starts writing to Saffron and inveigling her way into her life. Saffron has issues where she works, issues with her daughter, issues with her neighbour, issues with the class teacher and issues with trying to work out who the father to Phoebe's baby is.. and we also go backwards and forwards dealing with past issues that have never quite left her in her day to day life.

Oh and she is also trying to finish writing a cookbook her husband started "The Flavours of Love." Think lengthy soap opera. Saffron's surname is Mackleroy and there is an issue there as well as the police keep calling her Mrs Mackelroy... I think I have got that the right way around .. book has been returned. I don't think this is her best work but I enjoyed her as always. Must be difficult for authors when we compare and judge one of their works against another.

an aside
I checked the libraries for the two that came up trumps on your list but one was not listed at all and the other they were waiting for it to arrive... Gotta remember us lot out in the colonies have to wait for the old sailing ship to bring them over..


However, amongst my others that I have been reading I read Louise Candlish"s "The Day you Saved my Life".... GlossieAnn recommended it to me some time ago.. and yes thank you our Ann, I did enjoy it.

Persie

Thanks Perse, there is no way of us knowing when you are unable to get books so maybe if you spot that as soon as we list a book, if you then tell us we can make a substitute. I assume you don't have an e reader?

Gosh your review was so much more 'meaty' than mine, thank you. :-)

I will always latch on to one of the books, so don't worry about me.. You would think I would have bought a kindle or e-reader by now.. but the decisions in buying a new bed took three trips out and several lie downs, mostly him doing the lying down. Whatever we do, it gets a thorough treatment and several reads of consumer mag etc.

Just realised I haven't posted my reviews for these books, whoops :-S

The Letter

I liked the way the stories of two 'wronged' women from different eras intertwined and eventually reached a happy resolution. Each managed to find inner strength to overcome their problems, which are still relevant to the modern day. I read somewhere that unwed mothers were still sent to religious institutions until at least the 1960s.Unless you have been in the same situation I think it is harder for us to understand how Tina could take Rick back after the way he treated her, but the book did go some way to provide a explanation.

The Story of Us

An intriguing story of loss and guilt, based around Emma and the awful accident after her hen night. I found the sub-story of her father coping with the gradual progression of her mother's altzheimers very moving. As I read the story I hoped for a happy ending but, like Emma, I was not quite sure what that would be!

The Unseen

A strange book, retelling the story of the naive Hester, wife of the local vicar and Cat, a girl with a murky past (she has been in prison as a suffragette) who comes to be their housemaid. When a handsome young man arrives to search for 'supernatural beings' it all ends in murder. Their story is unearthed by a journalist, Leah, in 2011. The older part of the story is set in the unusually hot summer of 1911 and the hot, humid weather seems to drive the story on.
A good read.

I have had a letter from Tess who is still having trouble getting onto GR. Not helped by the fact she seemed to have been trying to send a message yesterday when she finally got on and then thought it was her PC causing the problem when, of course there have been problems for many of us with messages over the last couple of days.

Anyway, she read The story of us and enjoyed it. She did feel that thelatter part of the story had been written by an older woman.

Tess also says, because she was unable to get any of the other books she has read meanwhile. Bobby's girl by Catrin Collier and Dead secret by Catherine Deveney, both that she would recommend.

Anyway she sends you all a 'Hi' especially Bridget ..... Who seems to have done a disappearing act now :-( and she will be back with us as soon as she is able.