Tag Archives: Book Review

Merry and Bright: A Christmas Novel By Debbie Macomber

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A delightful festive novel. Just what you need when it is cold outside. The book equivalent of a fun romance film. Perfect to get lost in for a few hours. 

 

A novel about first impressions and second chances.

It’s Christmas, the season to be snowed under.

Merry Smith is overworked. Between family responsibilities, preparing for Christmas, and staying out of the crosshairs of her boss there’s room for little else. Her social life is the last thing on her mind, much less finding love.

Jayson Bright is feeling the pressure. Christmas is his most stressful time of year. Deadlines are looming, the holidays are coming, and employees are winding down. He’s the one left in the office pulling late and lonely nights.

Luckily for these two, their friends and family take matters into their own hands, and Merry and Bright are about to discover that love can be found where you least expect it . . .

Merry and Bright: A Christmas Novel By Debbie Macomber is available here. 

 

Keep You Safe By Melissa Hill Book Review

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Keep You Safe Melissa Hill

When I first took this book out of its envelope I was not sure I wanted to read it. As a mother I was worried it would play on my fears. But you should never judge a book by its cover and I jumped in. To say that I loved the book would be an understatement. It really pulls you in and does not let go. It is not just that it is well written, it also carries the story along so well, and is so believable. The characters are well rounded and relatable, even if sometimes they do something you think is idiotic. This book takes an issue that rumbles on in society: the MMR vaccination and its link to autism, and the consequences to people not vaccinating their children, and then tells the story in a riveting way. It also has a mummy blogger in it, which makes the book even more relevant. Modern and entertaining: you will be gripped until the very last page. A stunning book.

 

A mother always knows best. Doesn’t she?

What if your choice for your child could harm someone else’s?

Every mother faces impossible choices. Vaccination is one of the hardest. For single mum Kate O’Hara, there was no decision to make. Her daughter Rosie is one of a small percentage of Irish children who can’t be vaccinated against measles. All Kate can do is hope that her little girl is safe.

For mummy blogger Madeleine Cooper, it was a leap of faith she wasn’t prepared to take when she and her husband declined controversial measles jabs for their daughter Clara. All she can do is pray that it’s the right decision.

But when classmates Clara and Rosie both become sick will Kate pay for Madeleine’s choice?

A stunning and addictive new book club read from beloved bestselling Irish author Melissa Hill that explores every mother’s worst fear

 

How to Have a Baby and Not Lose Your Shit By Kirsty Smith Book Review

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How to Have a Baby and Not Lose Your Shit By Kirsty Smith is a funny and searingly honest book about parenting. You will nod in agreement and laugh out loud. Well written and humorous, this is a great book for first time parents, and even for those who are having another, just so you know you were not, and are not, alone. Fun, entertaining and definitely worth a read.

 

So you’re having a baby! Congratulations! Have you started panicking yet?

How to Have a Baby and Not Lose your Shit is for women who want to start a family but are not sure quite how ‘into’ babies they are. Women who have no intention of ever making their own Play-Doh (yes, that’s a thing). Women who think that babies are a teeny, weeny bit boring.

Appealing to new and expectant mums (as well as existing mothers who will identify with many of the experiences!) this is not a book about surviving parenting: having a baby is not an ordeal, it’s a brilliant life-affirming experience. This book is about enjoying parenting but acknowledging its challenges, about how you can love your children to the moon and back but still not like having fingers that smell of poo.

If you want to know how looking after a toddler is basically just like that time your mate got dumped and went on a six-month bender, or why holding a baby at a wedding and immediately wanting to swap it for a glass of champagne doesn’t mean you’re not ready for motherhood (it just means there is champagne) – this is the book for you. It answers the real questions modern women have about parenting. Can I wipe bottoms and still kick-ass? What if all the other mums are really, really boring? Is it okay to Google the answers to everything?

Written by a mum of two who thinks her children are wonderful but wishes they could be wonderful in a quieter, tidier, less annoying way, this book is a funny, insightful, and honest account of being at home with babies and small children and all the wondrous things that entails: like carrying a pot of dead bees in your handbag and trying to source ice cubes that aren’t ‘too cold’.

It won’t make your baby sleep through the night, or cure colic, but it will make you laugh when you’ve been up all night… which is the next best thing.

About the Author In her career as a TV Producer working in magic & comedy, Kirsty Smith introduced Russell Brand to an erotic lady wrestler, locked two presenters in a cage with 60 chickens for a week, and was made to magically appear dressed as a Morris Dancer from a giant pair of underpants. Now at home with two small children, life is almost exactly the same but even funnier and with added rice cakes. Kirsty blogs as Eeh Bah Mum.

How to Have a Baby and Not Lose Your Shit By Kirsty Smith is available here.

 

Best Day Ever By Kaira Rouda Book Review

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best day ever, kaira rouda
Best Day Ever ticks all of the boxes for what people want in a thriller these days: an unreliable narrator, domestic discord, and enough twists to keep you guessing. A tense domestic suspense novel, a zoomed through this novel at a quick pace, always wondering what was going to happen next. It is superbly written and keeps you hooked until the last page. The novel takes place over 24 hours and has an unreliable male narrator, two things which make it different. A great novel from USA Today bestselling author Kaira Rouda. Read it now. Our Day In The Life with Kaira Rouda is here.

 

Paul Strom has spent years building his perfect life: glittering career, beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in the suburbs.

But he also has his secrets. That’s why Paul has promised his wife a romantic weekend getaway. He proclaims this day, a warm Friday in May, will be the best day ever.

Paul loves his wife, really, he does. But he also wants to get rid of her. And with every hour that passes, Paul ticks off another stage in his elaborately laid plan…

 

Best Day Ever is available here. 

 

 

The People At Number 9 By Felicity Everett Now Out In Paperback

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One of Frosts favourite books of the year is now out in paperback. You can read our review of The People At Number 9 here. We recommend you get your hands on a copy.

Meet the new neighbours. Whose side are you on?

Have you met the People at Number 9?

Sara and Neil have new neighbours in their street. Glamorous and chaotic, Gav and Lou make Sara’s life seem dull. As the two couples become friends, sharing suppers, red wine and childcare, it seems a perfect couples-match. But the more Sara sees of Gav and Lou, the more she longs to change her own life. But those changes will come at a price.

 

Felicity Everett grew up in Manchester and studied English Literature at Sussex University. She worked in children’s publishing in London, whilst raising a family and is the author of more than twenty works of children’s fiction and non-fiction. After a short career break, Felicity returned to writing full-time and in 2011 published her debut novel, The Story of Us, a funny and touching account of the friendships forged between five women at University in the 1980s. Her second novel, The People at Number 9, published in April 2017, is a dark satire on sex, envy and betrayal in the suburbs. Felicity has recently returned from a few years living in Melbourne, with her husband and now lives in Gloucestershire. Her new work in progress is a gothic tale of marriage and mental instability set in the dark heart of the countryside. You can follow Felicity @ittymay and on Facebook, Felicity Everett – Author.

The People at Number 9 is available here.

 

The Reminders By Val Emmich Book Review

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The Reminders By Val Emmich has a very interesting premise: a man who wants to remember, and a little girl who wants to forget. It is a wonderful concept but not all great concepts make great novels. Luckily for Val Emmich The Reminders does work. It is a novel which is both happy and sad, funny and painful. It is well observed and has just the right hint of melancholy.  It is a beautiful story of an unlikely friendship. The Reminders is ultimately a heart-warming novel that will lift your spirits, while also making you just a little bit sad, but in a good way. Yes, that is possible. Recommended.

 

Overcome with the loss of his boyfriend Sydney, Gavin Winters has set fire to every reminder in their home. A neighbour has captured the blaze on video, turning this little-known TV actor into a household name. Gavin flees LA for New Jersey, where he hopes that ten-year-old Joan, the daughter of a close friend, can reconnect him with the memories of Sydney he is now in danger of losing for ever. 

Joan was born with a rare ability to recall every single day of her life in perfect detail, and in return for sharing her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help her write a song for a local competition. For Joan has had enough of being the girl who can’t forget – she wants to be the girl who will never be forgotten . . .

Charming, beautifully observed, poignant and funny, The Reminders by actor and musician Val Emmich is an irresistible story of the unlikely friendship between a grief-stricken man who can’t remember and a ten-year-old girl who can’t forget.

The Reminders By Val Emmich is available here. 

Dubbed a “Renaissance Man” by the New York Post, Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has had recurring roles on Vinyl and Ugly Betty as well as a memorable guest role as Liz Lemon’s coffee-boy fling, Jamie, on 30 Rock. Emmich lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his wife and their two children. The Reminders is his first novel.

Published 10th August 

 

 

Give Me The Child By Mel McGrath Book Review

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Give Me The Child drew my in immediately from the cover. Then the blurb drew my in further. As a mother I worried it might be horrible and depressing, but Give Me The Child is a clever and riveting psychological thriller. It leaves you guessing and is well written by an author who is clearly at the top of her game. Gripping and addictive: you will probably sacrifice sleep to race through it. A great book indeed.

 

Give Me the Child is an explosive thriller set against the backdrop of the 2011 London riots

Mel McGrath is the co-founder of the UKs top all-female London-based writing collective, The Killer Women, which has 19 members including Paula Hawkins and Erin Kelly http://www.killerwomen.org/who/

An unexpected visitor.

Dr Cat Lupo aches for another child, despite the psychosis which marked her first pregnancy. So when Ruby Winter, a small girl in need of help, arrives in the middle of the night, it seems like fate.

A devastating secret.

But as the events behind Ruby’s arrival emerge – her mother’s death, her connection to Cat – Cat questions whether her decision to help Ruby has put her own daughter at risk.

Do we get the children we deserve?

Cat’s research tells her there’s no such thing as evil. Her history tells her she’s paranoid. But her instincts tell her different. And as the police fight to control a sudden spate of riots raging across the capital, Cat faces a race against time of her own…

Mel McGrath is an Essex girl, the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling family memoir Silvertown. She won the John Llewellyn-Rhys/Mail on Sunday award for Best Writer Under 35 for her first book, Motel Nirvana. She has published three Arctic mysteries featuring the Inuit detective Edie Kiglatuk under the name MJ McGrath, the first of which, The Boy in the Snow, was shortlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger.

In the last year she has been one of the founders and moving lights of the website Killer Women, which has rapidly established itself as one of the key forums for crime writing in the UK. This new standalone marks a change in direction

Give Me The Child By Mel McGrath is published on the 27th July and is available here. http://amzn.to/2tFKiAR

 

Half a Sixpence by Evie Grace Book Review

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Frost is always excited to discover a new author and our excitement was huge upon the discovery of Evie Grace. Her debut novel Half a Sixpence is a dazzling debut that remined me of the Catherine Cookson books I have loved so much. Brilliant historical fiction that draws you in and does not let you go. Even better, this is the first book in a trilogy. We can’t wait until the next instalment.

 

Set in Kent in the 1830s, Half a Sixpence by Evie Grace is the first in the Maids of Kent trilogy, published on 13th July. Described as Catherine Cookson meets The Darling Buds of May, Half a Sixpence marks the change in rural life on Rook Farm as the mechanisation of the industrial revolution sweeps across the countryside and changes the fate of families forever.

HALF A SIXPENCE

by

EVIE GRACE

Published by Arrow

Paperback

13th July 2017

Priced £5.99

True love sometimes comes at a price

East Kent, 1830

Catherine Rook takes her peaceful life for granted. Her days are spent at the village school and lending a hand on her family’s farm. Life is run by the seasons, and there’s little time for worry.

But rural unrest begins sweeping through Kent, and when Pa Rook buys a threshing machine it brings turbulence and tragedy to Wanstall Farm. With the Rooks’ fortunes forever changed, Catherine must struggle to hold her family together.

She turns to her childhood companion, Matty Carter, for comfort, and finds more than friendship in his loving arms. But Matty has his own family to protect, and almost as quickly as their love blossomed their future begins to unravel.

With the threat of destitution nipping at her heels, Catherine must forge a way out of ruin . . .

Evie Grace was born in Kent, and one of her earliest memories is of picking cherries with her grandfather who managed a fruit farm near Selling. Holidays spent in the Kent countryside and the stories passed down through her family inspired her to write Half a Sixpence.

She loves researching the history of the nineteenth century and is very grateful for the invention of the washing machine, having discovered how the Victorians struggled to do their laundry.

Half a Sixpence is Evie’s first novel in her Maids of Kent trilogy. Half a Heart and Half a Chance will follow.