Kitty

The Book of Us – Andrea Michael

Oh my goodness, this book. This book won my heart over, filled it with joy and then smashed it into itty-bitty pieces. A story of friendship, loyalty and love, it explores many issues, particularly how perception and truth can be very different things as well as how some bonds are so strong they can never be broken.

I found it to be written with an emotional insight, depth and honesty that lifted it apart. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Beautiful.

Cass

A Borrowed Past – Juliette Lawson

What would you do if you discovered your whole life was built on a lie? This is the question a teenage William Harper has to face up to on more than one occasion in this excellent, page-turning story.

William dreams of being an artist, something his strict father is strongly against, but when a shocking family secret is uncovered, William takes his chance, running away from home to start a new life… but even as the years pass, and he grows from boy to man, further challenging truths emerge, showing the past is never far behind him.

I do love to pick up a book, not really knowing what to expect beyond what the blurb has told me, and my enjoyment of this story was definitely enhanced by the settings (as much a heart and soul of the story as the characters) in the northeast of England.

Having lived near York for seven years, it was a delight to tread the well-known streets with William, and the settings of Seaton Carew and Scarborough were also fascinating backdrops to this historical saga.

The writing was beautifully evocative of the era and the story skilfully documented, painting the page with words much as William longed to spill the images in his mind onto paper with a brush.

Ms Lawson writes captivating descriptions, strong narrative and relatable and believable dialogue between her well-drawn characters. She has a wonderful ability to draw the reader inside the pages of the book, to feel as though they are living the moments alongside William, and I cannot wait to read more in the Seaton Carew saga series.

A Borrowed Past is a compelling, wholly enjoyable read and I highly recommend it.

Jane

Her Mother’s Secret – Jan Baynham

This impressive debut transported me to Greece. The ability to weave a setting from words without the descriptions overtaking the story is a real skill and this book shines because of it.

The characters are fascinating too. For me, the 1969 ones in particular, when Elin spends her father’s legacy to attend an art school on a Greek island. Each person is carefully drawn and none of them are wasted in what they bring to the plot. I was pulled into Elin’s story, the friendships she forms, the enemies she inadvertently makes and the love she finds; the shocking reason it doesn’t all end as she would have wished.

For a dual timeline (Elin in 1969 and her daughter Alexandra in 1991) the structure is unusual in that after a few opening chapters straight after Elin’s death the book tells first her story and then Alexandra’s. But I can see it needed to be that way for the story to unfold in the correct manner. And it was refreshing not to be hopping about in time too.

I would thoroughly recommend Her Mother’s Secret. It was published by Ruby Fiction last month as an ebook across all major formats.