Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Description 

You’re back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. 

You’re keen to find a place of your own. But for now you’re crashing in your big brother’s spare room. 

That’s when you meet the man next door. 

He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive. You find yourself watching him. 

All the time. 

But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession. 

Or that someone is watching you.

My Review 

Wow I’m feeling quite dizzy now from all the twists and turns in this gripping book. I think this has to be my favourite Lisa Jewell book so far !! 

This book has quite a few characters but all are easy to get to know and remember who is who. I liked the character Joey, she probably came across as the sanest person in the book. I couldn’t feel an attraction between her and her husband Alfie though, it felt like they were more brother and sister. The character Tom Fitzwilliam gave me the creeps as did his son Freddie , when reading about them I got a really uneasy feeling in my gut. 

I love it how Lisa writes her books so descriptive that you feel the emotions and your heart races then stills. This would make a great adaptation on BBC , it would blow Broadchurch out of the water for sure ! Lisa Jewell is a very talented lady indeed. I can’t wait to read another book by her !! 

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The Hideaway by Sheila O’Flanagan

Description 

What would you do if you discovered you were living a lie?

When a shocking news report shatters Juno Ryan’s world, she suddenly finds herself without the man she loves – and with no way of getting the answers she needs.

Juno flees to the enchanting Villa Naranja in Spain. The blue skies and orange groves – along with Pep, the local winemaker’s handsome son – begin to soothe her broken heart. But just when she begins to feel whole again, another bombshell drops.

Juno might have run away from her secrets, but the past isn’t finished with her…

My review  

A perfect summer read that will leave you feeling like you have had a holiday!! 

I really enjoyed this book, it’s the second Sheila O’Flanagan book I’ve read and will definitely be reading more. Sheila O’Flanagan books are addictive and full of surprises. 

The main character Juno, has escaped to Spain to heal her broken heart and although I was reading it in my garden in the Uk, the setting was described so well that I felt like I was in Spain (the heatwave we are having helped) and when there was a bad storm in the book I actually felt jealous as we so desperately need some rain ! I really liked the character Juno, she  made things look brighter even with a cloud hanging over her head. I imagined the sexy pool cleaner Pep to look like Enrique Iglesias. He added a spark to Juno – in more ways than one ! Speaking of Pep, I suddenly remembered a Spanish waited called Peppe from a childhood holiday to Spain , I love how a good book can bring memories flooding. 

Thanks to Becky Hunter at Headline for sending me a proof copy. 

This Secret We’re Keeping by Rebecca Done

Description 

A pupil and a teacher. Is it ever right to break the rules?
Jessica Hart has never forgotten Matthew Landley.
After all, he was her first love when she was fifteen years old. But he was also her school maths teacher, and their forbidden affair ended in scandal with his arrest and imprisonment.
Now, seventeen years later, Matthew returns to Norfolk, with a new identity and a long-term girlfriend and a young daughter, who know nothing of what happened before. Yet when he runs into Jessica, neither of them can ignore the emotional ties that bind them together.
With so many secrets to keep hidden, how long can Jessica and Matthew avoid the dark mistakes of their past imploding in the present?

My Review 

Wow what a scorching read !! Why oh why has this book been sat on my book shelf for so long ? I wish I’d read it sooner, it was that good it only took me 4 days to read.

Even though he was a teacher and she was the pupil, I couldn’t help but love Matthew and Jessica’s relationship . It felt so real and their love for each other was genuine not just some silly school girl crush. If Jess had been a year older and Matthew not her teacher it would have been a whole different story but would the thrill of it still been there ? This brought back memories of when I was only 16 I had a fling with a 32 year old security guard , I thought my feelings for him were real but now I can see that it was lust and I’m glad it didn’t go no further than a kiss.

In answer to some of the reading group questions at the end of the book;

When it comes to relationships, to what extent do you believe age is just a number?                                                                     I truly believe age is just a number, I was almost 17 when I met my first serious boyfriend (now my husband) and he was 22. The five year age gap feels like nothing. My sister is 36 and her husband is 50, some people comment on that but at the end of the day you can’t help who you fall in love with.

How do you feel about Will’s treatment of Natalie throughout the novel ? Is it fair that she has been lied to without any remorse from her boyfriend?                          I didn’t even consider Natalie’s feelings in the story, I was too wrapped up in Will and Jessica’s whirlwind love story. Thinking about it now, I think Natalie was a rebound girlfriend for Will and would always come second to Jess.

The ending of this book almost broke me and I would love there to be a sequel or another different story written by the author that features some of the characters in.

 

This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay

Description

Welcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you.

Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn’t – about life on and off the hospital ward.

My review

A fantastic book that made me squirm, laugh and cry.

This book made me realise just how lucky we are to have the NHS, the staff work so hard and such long hours !! I didn’t realise how many hours a doctor will do in a day. They really are super heroes. I always wanted to be a midwife but I have to admit this book has made me glad I’m not, as a mum of 2 young children I feel I could not fully commit myself to this sort of work !
Although I felt like I could have qualified as a doctor just from reading this book, I learnt so much medical jargon from it and interesting facts.

I throughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend to everyone, BUY THIS BOOK !!

 

The Guilt Of A Sparrow by Jess B. Moore Blog Tour

Description 

Magnolia Porter has spent the entirety of her twenty-four years satisfying her mother’s guilt. She was the good girl to her trouble making brother, Lucian – the one left behind to hold her mother together after he died. She is an invisible girl in a small town carrying the burden of her family’s loss and pain. Maggie was nobody trying desperately to be somebody.

Cotton MacKenna is the one with the temper. Of the five MacKenna boys, he’s the one most likely to throw the first punch. Never mind all those fights were a decade ago, all in an attempt to save a sweet girl from her bullying older brother. Now, Cotton has grown up, with his own photography business, yet as the fourth in the line of MacKennas, he would only ever be known for his past. Time for a change.

Maggie and Cotton are more than the labels placed on them, put there by their families, the town, and themselves.
A meddling best friend. Bluegrass jams. Small town gossiping. Love, loss, and family ties. Learning how to be who you are outside of who you were told to be. With humor and plenty of romance, of course.

My Review 

Firstly welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this amazing book and thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for allowing me to be part of it, I’m thrilled to be one of the bloggers to promote this book, you would never think that it’s a debut !

I must admit by cover and title alone, I probably wouldn’t have chosen this book in a store but I’m so glad I took a chance on this book when Rachel emailed me with the blurb and asking if I wanted to take part. This just goes to show ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. This book captured my mind and my heart in ways a book has never before.

Whilst I was reading this I felt like the setting would be very much like the film Sweet Home Alabama starring Reese Witherspoon. So that was the setting and surroundings I had in my mind whilst reading. The character Cotton , I pictured as Jamie Dornan, his personality was similar to Mr Grey , I wanted to hug him at times and tell him to stop beating himself up but then when he was so harsh with Maggie I wanted to hit him, he frustrated me but I couldn’t help but love him !!! Maggie I felt lived too much in her deceased brother Luke’s shadow and needed to lay his ghost to rest. It’s like she felt the neighbor hood tarred her with the same brush as they did Luke but they didn’t, so she was similar to Cotton there in beating herself up too much. The sexual chemistry between these too was hot !!!

I interacted with the author Jess B. Moore a few times over social media whilst reading this book and she’s a lovely lady who took time to respond to me and got me excited about upcoming books.

The Guilt Of A Sparrow is available to buy now.