If I am looking for a light and entertaining read then I am always happy to pick up any of Mike Gayle’s books. His novels are always amusing and provide a fabulous insight into a lad’s point of view. In his latest book, The Stag and Hen Weekend, the readers still gets this but they are also treated to the female perspective too. To be honest, this is really two books in one as the reader is invited along on both Helen’s hen weekend at a country spa and Phil’s stag weekend in Amsterdam. This couple have been together about ten years and finally after turning down Phil’s numerous proposals, Helen finally popped the question herself. Helen has quite a bit of emotional baggage though especially as she nearly made it to the altar once before until she discovered what a lying cheat her former fiancé really was. Not that that is likely to be the case with Phil though who she knows really loves her.
Author Archive > kingfisher
The Stag and Hen Weekend
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The Soldier’s Wife
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Joanna Trollope is one of my favourite writers and her latest novel, The Soldier’s Wife, is just as good as, if not better than, as all of her other books. This story is a keen observation and fascinating insight into what it is like to be an army wife.
Dan Riley is a major in the British army and is returning home from a six month tour serving in Afghanistan. This should be an exciting time for his wife, Alexa, but she can’t help viewing his return with a certain amount of trepidation. She has been in this position before and knows that she will need to be patient while Dan readjusts to life back home but she also knows that it will be hard.
Lone Wolf
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Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors as her novels always challenge and provoke whilst tackling controversial topics. In her latest book, Lone Wolf, she prompts one to think about the sanctity of life as her main character is kept alive by machines in his hospital bed while his children argue about whether he should be allowed to die. The novel is made more interesting though as we learn about Luke Warren’s past and the somewhat unorthodox relationships he has had with his family.
The title – Lone Wolf is apt as we discover that Luke is a biologist who has spent his life studying and learning about the behaviour of wolves.
The Night Before Christmas
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Scarlett Bailey is a new author and The Night before Christmas is her first novel. For a début, it really is very good and is a lovely seasonal read in the run up to Christmas. I pretty much loved all of it and it had an absorbing storyline that grabbed my attention and kept it from start to finish.
As the title would suggest, the story takes place over the Christmas period, culminating in all sorts of things going on during Christmas Eve. The central character is Lydia who, with her boyfriend Stephen, is heading to the Lake District ready to spend Christmas with her closest friends, Katy, Alex and Joanna.
The Litigators
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A few years ago I was an avid reader of John Grisham books but recently seemed to lose interest in them. However, when I saw his latest book, The Litigators, it caught my interest and I decided to give him another go. I am really glad that I did as I really enjoyed this book and it has rekindled my interest in John Grisham so much so that he is now firmly back on my ‘must read’ list!
The Litigators seems to be a typical John Grisham legal thriller and courtroom drama where the little man takes on the big guns. In this case the little men are the ’boutique’ firm of Finley and Figg and the big guns are a pharmaceutical company called Arrick which has a drug on the market called Krayoxx that is designed to reduce cholesterol levels in overweight people.
Don’t Let Me Go
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I have just finished reading Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde and feel quite emotionally drained because of this wonderful book. It is thought-provoking and poignant and makes subtle observations about the state of twenty first century living. It’s also most uplifting and to me felt like a testament to the power of human kindness.
In Don’t Let Me Go we meet Grace who is a small girl with big problems. She lives with her mother in a small apartment block in LA but her main problem is that her mother is a drug addict and if she does not clean up her act very soon, Grace could very likely be taken away by the ‘woman from the county’.
Out of My Depth
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Out of My Depth, by Emily Barr, tells the story of four former school friends who meet up years later for a reunion. Right from the start the reader is aware that something dark and sinister occurred in their past which means that this reunion is never going to be easy – but this is at first only hinted at and gradually through the book the truth comes out. This really had me hooked right from the start!
All the women are now thirty two. Suzy, a successful artist is the one who instigates the reunion by inviting the others to her luxurious farmhouse in France. She is very surprised and also more than a bit nervous when everyone agrees to come. The others are Amanda, Isabelle and Tamsin. All have changed greatly since their school days and because of this they are like strangers to each other.
The Ugly Sister
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Jane Fallon is already the very successful author of three great novels and she has just written her fourth – The Ugly Sister. I had high expectations of this book, having already really enjoyed her first three, and I was not disappointed. However, I’m not quite sure why but it did take me a little while to get into it.
Sisters, Abi and Caroline (now calling herself Cleo), were very close when they were growing up despite being quite different. Caroline was the attractive one whereas Abi was more plain and studious. However, everything changed overnight when, at the age of sixteen, Caroline was spotted and offered a lucrative modelling contract.
An Autumn Crush
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I’m not quite sure why I have not read any of Milly Johnson’s books before, as she is definitely my kind of author, but when I picked up An Autumn Crush, it was the first I had read. I was not too sure what to expect as the title sounds a bit light and airy, but as soon as I started reading I knew that I was going to enjoy it and it was also going to be a bit more thought provoking than the title would suggest. Having read this book though, I will definitely start reading more from Milly Johnson.
I had noticed that Milly Johnson’s last book was called ‘A Summer Fling’ so I was slightly concerned that An Autumn Crush might be a sequel and that I would be reading them in the wrong order. However, that is not the case as An Autumn Crush seems to feature an entirely different set of characters.
Plan B
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I have read most of Emily Barr’s novels and each one is fresh and enjoyable and you think they can’t get any better. However, having just read Plan B, they do get better and I was totally absorbed in this story from the moment I picked the book up! Emily Barr is such a good storyteller and she hooks you from the very start so that you don’t want to stop reading. I found myself snatching odd moments in the day to pick this book up, and now that I’ve finished it I’m almost disappointed as I didn’t want to stop reading.
The main character in the book is Emma and over half of the story is told from her point of view and is written in the first person.
The First Wife
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I am a huge fan of the writer Emily Barr and have pretty much read all of her books. Her latest book, The First Wife, is another great read, with lots of intrigue and mystery. However, some of her earlier books such as ‘The Sisterhood’ and ‘Out of My Depth’ are brilliant and take a lot of living up to! I don’t think that The First Wife ranks as highly as these but it is another top book all the same.
The First Wife is about a young woman called Lily who has not had the easiest of starts in life. Abandoned by her selfish parents as a child, she spent her teenage years looking after her ailing grandparents who die within a few months of each other when she is eighteen. Unfortunately, she is left with very little and having had a sheltered upbringing struggles to deal with life on her own in the big wide world.
The Empty Nesters
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What do you do after eighteen years of selflessly bringing up your children when they suddenly leave home? Do you see it as a huge opportunity to do the things that you have always wanted or is there just a vast empty hole in your home and in your heart? This is the question that Nina Bell poses in her fabulous new book, ‘The Empty Nesters‘.
Laura, Clover and Alice have been friends ever since their children started school together. Now they have all left for university and the mothers are feeling slightly adrift. Having no children at home feels very strange for Clover and she worries what is left for her and her husband George, especially as they don’t seem to have anything to talk about these days. Laura still wants to mother her son Jamie and cannot come to terms with the fact that he wants his independence.
