Plenty of tears and laughs

The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin

I have to admit that I'm one of those people who reads the end of the book before I start it - though reading an an e-reader now makes that more difficult. As I read this on my e-reader, technically I didn't know the ending but in this case you do know as soon as you read the opening pages but that doesn't detract from the fact that I really enjoyed this story. Just because we know the ending does not mean that there aren't a few surprises along the way.

 Anna McPartlin makes you laugh and cry - sometimes at the same time as you follow Mia aka Rabbit Hayes through her final days. She is in the final stages of cancer, which makes this sound like a really depressing story but it isn't! As Rabbit relives her memories of her life with her lively Irish family, best friend Marjorie and her first love Johnny we get drawn in to her story, her life and her choices.  We also experience the pain her family and friends feel as they watch her slip away and the ways in which they try to cope with the pain and grief.


I really enjoyed this book and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes a good laugh and cry (sometimes at the same time) in their reading. I thought it was a great story about enjoying life, whatever it throws at us. Recommended to fans of Jojo Moyes!

It's not me its you by Mhari McFarlane

 Delia's life seems perfect - long term boyfriend, lovely home and a job she can coast along in. However, as in all the classic rom-coms in a short space of time she goes from being in  a long-term relationship, to finding out her boyfriend has been cheating on her  - on the night she proposes,  having problems at work, deciding to quit her job and move from Newcastle to London to take stock of her life and decide where she wants to go next. Where she goes next lands her a job with a dodgy boss, a run-in with a good-looking journalist and the resurrection of the comic strip she started in college.

Mhari McFarlane's novel has plenty of the classic rom-com twists  but it is done with good humour and believable, likeable characters. The finished book will benefit from the comic-strip which was missing in the galley but will bring a new dimension to the story and make this one stand out from the other chic-lits on the shelf. I have to admit I had been getting a little bored with the chick-lit books and had started to avoid them but this one made me laugh!

A Greek tragedy for the 21st century

A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond

This title updates the Greek myth of Orpheus & Eurydice to 21st Century Northumberland.

Ella & Claire have been best friends for a long as they can both remember. Now both studying for A levels they cannot imagine a life apart. Ella, who was adopted,  is under pressure from her parents to do well in her A levels, so when their gang suggests a  break away on the coast Ella decides she cannot go. Claire and the group set up camp on the beach and enjoy the freedom from school, family and work for a few days. The group is joined by a strange young man, Orpheus, who seems to have an unsettling effect on the group and Claire feels that Ella should be included in the experience, she is only a phone call away. So a chain of events is set in place which will end in tragedy for the trio.

David Almond has captured the wild beauty of the area and his lyrical recounting of this Greek tragedy for the a 21st century audience is wonderful.

I've just seen the hardback and reading it as a galley on a Kindle the story lost some of its impact. The hardback edition has wonderful illustrations and makes good use of light and dark to capture the highs and lows of a love that echoes down the centuries. This is not in the same vein as the YA novels doing the rounds at the moment involving reincarnation  and lost loves. It is more realistic than that and rooted in the landscape of the north.

A beautiful, lyrical story and will be worth promoting to those readers in schools who like their books with a bit of depth.


I was given this book for free by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

New York and Shoes

The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani

Valentine is back! In the 3rd book in the series following our favourite shoemaker, we pick up the story immediately after the events in Encore Valentine.
Valentine has finally found her Prince Charming and everything looks set for a lifetime of happiness but Valentine's stubborn nature, perfectionism and drive to be the best designer there is lead to many bumps in the road on the way to marriage and that happy ever after. Both Valentine & Gianluca have to overcome a lot to build up a strong and happy marriage.

The Roncalli family is still as bumptious and lively as ever and there are plenty of laughs but there are some sad moments in this book.  The author has captured the highs and lows of  family life and the shop that is the heart of the family and becomes even more so in this story, as Valentine's empire starts to expand.

The title refers to the factory Valentine starts to produce her own shoes but also to the twists and turns that life brings - we never know what is going to happen next in life, or in this book.

Trigiani's characters are wonderful from my favourites Aunt Feen and Gabriel, to the wider family, and she seems to really capture the atmosphere of New York in all its busy-ness. There are laugh out loud moments but also moments of great sadness.

I don't know if there will be a 4th book in this series but it will be interesting to see what happens next in Valentine's and her extended families lives.

The Secret Place by Tana French

This book was received as a pre-publication release from the Reading Agency.

The book group I belong to read it and this is their review on it:

With high expectations from the blurb, reviews on Amazon and the author recommendations, the group felt badly let down!

The group liked the alternating chapters of past and present but that was felt to be the only positive.

The book was poorly written and the language overly flowery, the school setting was unrealistic (all the book group members work in schools). The creation of the ‘secret place’ in a school to post concerns and worries was a scenario ripe for bullying and was felt to be unbelievable to them and merely a device to kick start the plot. 

There was a complete lack of suspense and the group did no not care ‘whodunnit’ – the majority had already identified the perpetrators of both the crime and the card early in the book! The depiction of both the police and the teenage girls was felt to be stereotypical and one dimensional and the two groups of girls were felt to be indistinguishable from one another. This lack of characterisation made feeling empathy for any of the characters difficult.

The supernatural element was ridiculous and pointless.

There was some poor editing – if the history of Holly’s mum’s relationship with the school and her friends, had been introduced earlier it would have made more sense about the theme of friendship which the author was trying to explore and to use to as a plot device.

Very disappointed!

Apple & Rain by Sarah Crossan

Sarah Crossan's beautiful story of love, family and realising that that the fantasy you  have about your parents may not always live up to your expectations.

Apple's mother left her as a toddler, with her grandmother and went off to find herself and become an actress. Apple fantasies about her mother's return and tries to buck against her grandmother's strict rules. One day her mother does return but there a plenty of surprises along the way for Apple and her grandmother, as they come to terms with her return, Apple ends up becoming the responsible one, trying to care for her mother, go to school and maintains her friendships. She begins to realise that adults may not have all the answers but have to do what they think is best - even if you don't think it is. through a creative writing task, apple begins to explore her family, relationships, identity and truth which gives her an insight into herself and those around her.

Crossan's story is beautifully written with believable characters who inspire a range of emotions including admiration and frustration. This comes highly recommended and would be a good Key Stage 3 read.

This would be a great book as class reader to discuss family, responsibility and growing up.

This book was provided free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Love, War & Florence

Love and War by Alex Preston is set in Florence immediately before and during the Second World War. Esmond Lowndes is the poster boy for the British Union of Fascists. He has been sent to Florence in disgrace for a misdemeanour at Cambridge, to set up a radio station to strengthen ties between the two countries Fascist Parties.

As war looms on the horizon Alex forms friendships, falls in love and meets Carita, the head of the Florence Fascists. slowly he begins to see that Fascism may not be the answer to his countries problems and when war breaks out he has to choose a side to be on - the Fascists or the Resistance.

I found the first part of the book hard going, Esmond is not the most likeable of characters but as the novel progresses he starts to come out from the his father's shadow and shows what he is truly made of. Combining explosions, love, food, car chases, violence and a host of characters - some real, such as Alice Keppel and Ezra Pound, and some fictitious, this book does grow on you. You will have to persevere through the pre-war section which I did find hard-going. Florence during the war and the wok of the Italian Resistance is fascinating.

Reading it on a Kindle made the sections where the author made use of postcards, letters and scripts from the radio station difficult to follow.

An interesting slant on war and fascism.

This title was given free by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review