The Last Thing She Told Me

The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green

Even the deepest-buried secrets can find their way to the surface...

Moments before she dies, Nicola's grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden.

Nicola's mother claims she was talking nonsense. However, when Nicola's daughter finds a bone while playing in Betty's garden, it's clear that something sinister has taken place.

But will unearthing painful family secrets end up tearing Nicola's family apart?

I was sent an ARC by netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

This starts with Nicolas dying Grandmother asking her to look after the babies at the bottom of her garden. At first she dismisses it as a dying woman's rambling until her daughter finds a small bone. The  secrets that have long stayed buried are now being dragged to the surface as Nicola finds 2 sets of baby bones at the bottom of the garden. 

 The story is told in the present day with intercepts of letters from the past and memories from another childhood.Nicola is warned time and again about trying to uncover what happened to the babies. her mother especially is against her discovering what happened, even though she claims to know nothing about it you get a sense early on that she knows more than she admits. 

 As Nicola discovers more and more about her family and she finds family members she didn't even know existed she discovers that there was more than one persons secrets buried.

 There isn't a twist in this book exactly about halfway through you realise what happened. The tragedies that seemed to go  own with 3 generations of this family are heartbreaking. The topic of sexual abuse is brought up quite heavily and one of the main themes is the old fashioned notion of don't talk about it and its always the females fault. 

 The characters go through quite a bit of self discovery in this book with each of them accepting and talking about the things that happened to them. Realising that they were not at fault for anything that happened in their pasts.

Beautiful Bad

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward.

Maddie and Ian's romance began when he was serving in the British Army and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend Jo in Europe. Now sixteen years later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America.

But when an accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian's PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son Charlie; and the couple's tangled and tumultuous past with Jo.

From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, the years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of shocking crime.

But what in this beautiful home has gone so terribly bad?

I received a ARC from netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

 This book draws you in straight away with a desperate 911 call and the officers responding  and just finding blood. You are then transported back to 2001 where we met Maddie and Jo in Skopje where Jo helps refugees get supplies for the camps. While there they meet 4 British bodyguards one of whom is Ian. This is where Maddies, Ian and Jos story begins.

 I found this  to be a slow paced book to begin with but as the story started developing I found myself being drawn in more and more. The time line flips from 2001 back to 2017 and starts at 12 weeks before the 911 call. We go on a journey with Maddie as she starts therapy  and makes some realisations about her life and marriage.

 The theme of PTSD is strong throughout this book and its affects on not just the solider but the people around them and how they can affect those closet to them.

 I did work out who was killed before the ending and I kind of guessed who did it but I did not imagine the why and how. The twist in this book is definitely the how rather than the who and the lengths people can go to if they think it's right.

The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather.

The beautiful one
The golden couple
The volatile one
The new parents
The quiet one
The city boy
The outsider

The victim.

While I enjoyed this book it is by no means something we've not seen before. A group of old friends have gone to a remote Scottish lodge for New Years Eve and end up being trapped by a snowstorm when one of them is murdered. 

It is started with the finding of the body and it then goes back to 3 days before from when the friends first arrived and switches backwards and forwards every couple of chapters. During the 3 days we find out more about each person their past relationships with each other but not really what they are like so much now.
 It's written from the perspective of 3 of the female friends and even thought he same moments are shown through each persons eyes at times at no point does it feel repetitive. 

The main story, apart from the murder of course, is can you really stay friends with people for that long. The characters have been friends since university and are now well into their 30's. The have changed and grown, They are each at different points in their life and don't necessarily know each other that well any more. 

This book was slightly predictable and I could see the ending coming but that doesn't mean i didn't enjoy it or wouldn't read it again.

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The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 

Only Daughter

Only Daughter by Sarah Denzil

‘Your daughter is dead.’

When Kat Cavanaugh hears the words every mother dreads, her perfect world shatters. She takes in the beautiful long blonde hair, torn yellow dress and chipped blue nail-varnish. It can’t be real.

And then the police add the word ‘suicide’. But Kat refuses to believe them.

Even when they show her the familiar looping handwriting and smudged ink on the note her little girl left behind. She knows her bubbly, vivacious daughter would never take her own life.

As she searches Grace’s perfume scented room, filled with smiling photos, she uncovers secrets her little girl had been hiding. Secrets that could put her in terrible danger too.

But Kat’s determined to find out what really happened to Grace on the night she died, whatever it takes…

I received a ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book gripped me from the first page and it didn't let go. It tells the story of Kat trying to find out what happened to her  daughter when she supposedly committed suicide never believing for a second that she did. I loved the ongoing mystery of what happened of course but I also enjoyed the journey of self revelation that Kat took, not only as a mother but accepting what her life was before that. 
 It made me question how well we know our children at all and do we want to, especially as it turned out Kat didn't know hers as much as she thought she did. It explores themes of nature vs nurture are you the way you are because you were born that way or do your parents make you act and feel the way you do. Nearly every character in this book was affected by the way their parents acted around them and treated them.
 How far would you go to protect or discover things about someone you love is the main story line though and will you like what you find at the end.

No Exit

No Exit.

A KIDNAPPED LITTLE GIRL LOCKED IN A STRANGER'S VAN. NO HELP FOR MILES. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’s on the way home to see her sick mother. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars.

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travellers is the kidnapper.

WARNING! Do not start this book in bed when you need to get up the next day and get 2 lazy teenagers up for school/college! This is such a tense read. Everything happens over one night in one place with only 6 people. As it's set in such a short space of time you keep reading to see what could possibly happen next and how will the main character Darby get out of it. It's full of suspense and it grips you pretty early on.

 Taylor Adams did an amazing job of conveying the feeling of being trapped and not knowing who to trust. You can feel how scared Darby is throughout the book and how unsure she is of what to do and who to trust. You feel hope when you think she has a plan and you equally feel her dismay and terror when you realise its not going to work.

 The fact that its set in such a short space of time in such a small place with so few people is what makes this book as good as it is. It adds to the suspense as you know nobody can escape, not even the bad guys can escape and make a break for it. It makes everyone feel desperate and willing to do things they definitely usually wouldn't. 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspenseful books you wont be disappointed.

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No Exit by Taylor Adams

Beware of nice men!

It's All About You.

When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the bookstore where Joe works, he is instantly smitten.

But there's more to Joe than Beck realises and much more to Beck than her perfect facade. And the obsessive relationship quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences...

Firstly I loved it, but I'm not sure I'll read it again. Secondly Joe is creepy as hell and makes my skin crawl. He is however such a good character, Caroline Kepnes did such a good job in creating the main character and managing to keep him from ever gaining your sympathy. I admit I kept waiting for a redeeming moment as is normally the case with a main character but I'm also glad that one never came because that would have taken away from the whole creepy feeling that was present throughout the book.
  The whole book is from his point of view and to hear his thoughts, his process and his reasoning of why he does what he does is fascinating, disturbing but fascinating. His justifications about why he acts the way he does and his inability to see that he's wrong most of the time is what makes this such a compelling read.The way he manages to hide who he is and perform with the people around him is what makes him especially disturbing. He comes across as charming, witty and extremely likeable to those he meets and that is a big part of how he gets away with things for so long. 
 I cant wait for the show!

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You by Caroline Kepnes

Hello!

Hello fellow bookworms!

Hi, welcome to the musings of someone who feels  like everyone should know about what she reads. I  like talking about books so that means everyone else likes hearing about them right?

 This is a short but sweet post to introduce my self to you all. 

Hi, I'm Rachel I'm 37 and I'm a book addict. I enjoy all different genres I don't necessarily have a favourite but i do find that I read the same of one kind for a while before I switch. I don't like the term"guilty Pleasure" as i don't believe you should feel guilty about liking a book, film or music just because its seen as bad writing or cheesy. You do you! 

 I hope you all enjoy my random ramblings and if you don't then you don't have to read.

Bye for now xx