The Resistance Girl – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Resistance Girl

Author:- Mandy Robotham

No. of pages:- 412 pages

Date published:- will be published on 31st March 2022

Publisher:- Avon

Genre:- Historical Fiction

Rating:-

Rumi Orlstad is grieving and incensed. Livid.
‘They will pay!’ she howls into the twisting gusts. ‘BE SURE, MAGNUS – I WILL MAKE THEM PAY!’

Norway, 1942. War rages, and, under cover of darkness, Rumi Orlstad and her fellow resistance fighters smuggle British agents, fugitives and supplies across the North Sea into Nazi-occupied territory.

One night, when he braves a storm to complete an ill-fated mission, Rumi’s fiancé is lost to the dangerous waters. Broken-hearted, she withdraws from the clandestine group, vowing never to let her loved ones put themselves in the line of fire again.

But months later, Rumi stumbles across a Nazi secret that lays Hitler’s plans for Norway bare, and she knows she has no choice but to risk her life for her country once more.

She has lost everything to the Nazis. But now she fights back…

Mandy Robotham’s books are based on historical fiction, usually set during the Nazi period, except one book. This latest book, The Resistance Girl is set in Nordic region this time, in Norway about a brave and courageous girl named Rumi who fought against the Nazis and saving her friend, Anya and British fugitives and allies from the Nazis. Rumi lost her husband but she would do anything to oppose the Nazi regime.

Like all Mandy Robotham’s books, her books are always centered on the female protagonists who are brave, courageous and would do anything to risk their own lives. Rumi is such person and would do anything to her country, as loyal as she is and could be labeled as one of the true heroines of WWII. The story is set in 1942 when Norway fell under the Nazi regime. For all this time, I was reading books about Nazi regime based in Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Germany and Italy so this book based in Norway during WWII is completely new to me. The author must have done tremendous research on the lifestyle in the seas near Norway. I was immediately drawn into the story as the author has done a good job of making Rumi stand out in the story.

Overall, this book will make you hook into the story and is an unputdownable emotional historical fiction that will keep you up all night–worth five stars!

After The Wedding – ARC Book Review

Title:- After The Wedding

Author:- Laura Elliot

No. of pages:- 393 pages

Date published:- will be published on March 24th 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 2.5/5 stars

Everyone said she was the prettiest flower girl. But now her dress lies on the floor. It’s wet and torn, her shoes are lost. ‘Tell us what happened to you?’ her daddy sobs. Christine shakes her head. All she can remember are the red rose petals scattering like drops of blood spilling to the ground.

When Christine Lewis was a little girl, she witnessed something terrible at a wedding and buried it so deep in her memory, she managed to forget it ever happened.

Years later, Jessica Newman walks into the successful advertising agency Christine runs with her husband. Jessica is beautiful and excellent at her job but her presence triggers disturbing memories for Christine. Fragments of the wedding are starting to flicker in her mind and an unexplainable ball of dread begins to form in Christine’s stomach. Jessica is slowly beginning to destroy Christine’s marriage and her business. Why can’t anyone else see it?

Christine and Jessica’s lives were connected long before they set eyes on one another. But in unlocking the mystery of what happened at the wedding all those years ago, is Christine prepared for the truth she’s about to find?

When Christine was a little girl, she witnessed something horrifying but couldn’t remember what it was. Years later, Christine is working in a company when Jessica Newman enters into her life. Through Christine’s hazy memory, she couldn’t place Jessica but feel suspicious of her. Jessica slowly enters into her life and slowly breaks Christine’s marriage and slowly take over the company. Then Christine undergoes a hypnotherapy session and soon she slowly regains her memory in which Jessica may be involved…

The plot was good, the writing was great. But unfortunately, this wasn’t as interesting as I thought it should be. Maybe it was just me but it wasn’t as fast paced thriller as I thought it should be. Not much of twists and turns you would normally expect in a thriller and there were some parts where it was boring. However, I have to send, the ending was good–not great but good. Overall, in my opinion, this was an OK thriller, not a thing to die for.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Laura Elliot lives in Malahide, a picturesque, coastal village in Dublin, Ireland. She enjoys writing psychological thrillers and, to date, she has written nine novels: The Thorn Girl, The Wife Before Me, Guilty, Sleep Sister, The Betrayal, Fragile Lies, Stolen Child ( also titled On Your Doorstep) The Prodigal Sister (also titled The Lost Sister) and her most recent novel, The Silent House.

In the UK she is published by Bookouture, Sphere and Avon, and by Grand Central Publishing in the US. Her novels have also been widely translated.

AKA June Considine, she has written twelve books for children and young adults. In her earlier career, she worked as a journalist and magazine editor.

For more details check http://lauraelliotauthor.com/

The Family Holiday – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Family Holiday

Author:- Shalini Boland

Date published:- will be published on March 29th 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Two families. One house swap. A vacation to die for.

The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find something that shatters everything…

Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded but I’d recognise him anywhere. The man is my husband.

But we’ve never met the family we’ve swapped homes with and my husband swears it isn’t him in the photo. He’s lying. We argue on the balcony with the sun setting behind us and I storm out.

When I finally calm down enough to go back to the villa to confront him, I find his dead body sprawled across the veranda.

Who killed my husband? Was our marriage a lie? And are my children now in terrible danger?

Shalini Boland has done it again!

Niall and Beth decides to go on a holiday in Italy by agreeing to do a house swap with another family–the Mason family. Amber and Renzo moves to Niall’s and Beth’s small cottage while Niall and Beth with their children moves to white washed villa in Italy with a breathtaking view. But things don’t really go according to the plan when Beth discovers a secret that will threaten her marriage with Niall.

The story is told from the perspectives of Beth and Amber, each recounting their version of the story. From start to finish, the story is fast paced packed with twists and turns that come along the way. Beth’s marriage to Niall, Amber’s marriage to Renzo and their own relationships with their children is outline in the story. I was kept at the edge of the seat as I read this book, wondering what is going to happen next as I read the book. The story then picks up its pace when Niall was found dead and the ending of the story left me so breathless that I actually couldn’t believe that it was how the story ended! This is the fourth book I have rea from this author and looking forward to read more of her books!

Overall, The Family Holiday is an unputdownable thriller that will keep you at the edge of the seat–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

The Stepchild – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Stepchild

Author:- Nicole Trope

No. of pages:- 276 pages

Date published:- will be published on 15th March 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Three-year-old Millie Everleigh disappears on a crisp winter’s day, and nothing is as it seems…

It’s the phone call every mother dreads.

I’m climbing into the car after a trip to the grocery store. As the engine starts, my phone rings. It’s my stepdaughter, Shelby, who is babysitting my three-year-old little girl Millie.

‘I only went upstairs for a second,’ she says through her sobs. ‘She’s gone.’

I race home to find my blue-eyed baby girl missing, and my heart ripped out of my chest.

When the police turn up, Shelby’s story starts to unravel. What is she hiding?

Then I get a message saying, ‘Your husband is not who you think he is.’ Could he be lying?

Suddenly, my family feel like strangers. Everyone has a secret – even me.

No one knows why I was late coming back from the store, and the guilt I’ve been feeling ever since…

Once the truth comes out, all of our lies exposed, will it be too late to save my precious child?

Another one of those fast paced thrillers that will put you at the edge of the seat, by Nicole Trope!

Shelby is twelve years old and is asked to babysit her three-year-old half-sister Millie. But while babysitting, Millie goes missing.

The story is told from the perspectives of Leslie (Millie’s mother and Shelby’s stepmother), Shelby and a woman named Ruth, who seemed to be obsessed with Millie’s disappearance. From the start of the chapter, when Millie goes missing to the end, the story is fast paced, packed with twists and turns that you wouldn’t even expect! The story started getting more tense in the middle of the story and boy, the ending was completely unexpected. Kudos to the author for keeping the reader at the edge of the seat while reading this thriller! I stayed up all night reading the book, wondering what is going to happen–will Millie be ever found? Did someone kill her? What really happened to her? And finally all those questions were answered at the end!

Overall, if you like reading fast paced thrillers that will keep you up all night, an uputdownable thriller that will keep you at the edge of the seat, then this book is one for you–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature.

The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story. She went on to publish a further five novels in Australia before joining Bookouture in 2019. She is a USA Today and Amazon bestseller in the USA, UK, AUS and CAN.

She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot- Book Review

Title:- The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

Author:- Marianne Cronin

No. of pages:- 347 pages

Date published:- June 1st 2021

Genre:- Literary Fiction

Rating:-

A charming, fiercely alive and disarmingly funny debut novel in the vein of John Green, Rachel Joyce, and Jojo Moyes—a brave testament to the power of living each day to the fullest, a tribute to the stories that we live, and a reminder of our unlimited capacity for friendship and love.

An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. 

Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.

As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years. Though their days are dwindling, both are determined to leave their mark on the world. With the help of Lenni’s doting palliative care nurse and Father Arthur, the hospital’s patient chaplain, Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived—stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy.

Though the end is near, life isn’t quite done with these unforgettable women just yet.

Delightfully funny and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others even after we’re gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends time.

I absolutely ADORED this book!!!! I have to RECOMMEND this book if you still haven’t read this book.

Lenni Pettersson is a teenager living in the Terminal Ward at Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Knowing that she only have a few more days left to live, she joins an arts and crafts club, where she meets eight-three year old Margot, a purple pajama wearing fruit cake loving rebel who transforms Lenni. The friendship between Lenni and Margot develops and they are both determined to leave mark on this earth–with the help of Lenni’s doting nurse and Father Arthur, the two decides to create one hundred painting showcasing their lives along the way,

This book reminded me a little of a Fault in the Stars but in a different way. Both the stories of Lenni and Margot captivated me, particularly Margot’s story as we see Margot through her childhood years during the war period, to her adult year until to her older years. There were some funny parts in the book that will make you burst out laughing but there are some heartbreaking and emotional parts in the book that will make you the reader cry! The ending is so sad and tear jerking that I almost cried reading the end! The writing was captivating, and the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story! I so enjoyed this book and couldn’t wait to read more of her books!

If you haven’t read this book yet, go and on and start reading! The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot will capture your heart! Worth five stars!

Hello, I’m Marianne Cronin, author of ‘The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot’. Welcome to my Amazon Author page!

Lenni and Margot took me seven years to write and I’m very excited that their story is now reaching readers here on Amazon.

Before I started working on writing fiction full-time, I spent my days in academia, writing things that nobody wanted to read (not even my mum!). I have a PhD in Applied Linguistics but I don’t use the title ‘Dr’ on official documents because I’m scared of being asked to help in a medical emergency and having only a thesis on linguistics to help.

I like to write at night and I like to be alone when I do. When I’m not writing, I can be found trying to be funny in various improv groups or watching my recently-adopted cat sleeping under my desk.

Bonus fact just for Amazon readers: When I was a student, I worked as a background extra in two Bollywood films. I needed the money, but what I really gained was a fun fact about myself. One of the films is currently streaming on Netflix and I’m not going to say what it’s called.

(You can find me on Instagram, @itsmariannecronin)

The Villa – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Villa

Author:- Clare Boyd

No. of pages:- 348 pages

Date published:- will be published on March 17th 2022

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Women’s Fiction

Rating:- 2.5/5

Nora thought two weeks in a stunning villa in the south of France would be the perfect treat for the family she adores. She pictured them tucking into buttery croissants every morning before long days lounging by the sparkling pool. It’s probably too much to hope that it might heal the rifts growing between them, but she can’t wait to count the freckles collecting on the kids’ innocent smiling faces and feel the warm Mediterranean Sea wash all her fears away.

But Nora is nervous as she gathers everyone around the large oak table on the villa’s vine-covered terrace. Her daughters eye her suspiciously as she tops up her wine with a shaking hand and clears her throat to speak. The secret she’s about to tell will shatter their lives forever…

A heartbreaking and totally addictive page-turner about motherhood at its best, and its worst, and the lies we tell to protect the ones we love. Anyone who adores Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult and Kerry Fisher will stay up all night reading.

The front cover looked appealing, and this was initially labeled as mystery/thriller. But this was more a family drama between a mother and two daughters.

Nora invites her daughters, Libby and Emma and their families to spend the vacation at a villa in France. During their stay in the villa, a secret is soon revealed that threaten to ruin the relationships between each of the family members.

OK, initially, I thought this was a mystery/thriller but I realized this book was more of a family drama book. The story is told from the perspectives of Nora the mother, and the two daughters, Libby and Emma. I hate to say this but I found this book boring to me. Too much of mindless senseless dialogues and I was slightly confused to the story…but maybe, it was just me. The ending though predictable was slightly emotional but nonetheless, I felt like this was more like a family drama soap opera.

Overall, if you like a book based on family drama, this book maybe one for you. I do like the books based on family drama but this was not my cup of tea. Worth 2.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Clare lives with her husband and their two daughters in Surrey, where her little green shed at the bottom of the garden provides a haven for her writing life. Before becoming a writer, she enjoyed a career in television, as a researcher in documentaries and then as a script editor in drama at the BBC and Channel Four, where her love of storytelling took hold.

Clare’s books LITTLE LIAR, THREE SECRETS, HER CLOSEST FRIEND, MY PERFECT WIFE and THE PRETTY ONE are published by Bookouture and are available to buy now.

FACEBOOK: clare.boyd.14

TWITTER: @ClareBoydClark

INSTAGRAM: claresboyd

The Nurse – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Nurse

Author:- Claire Allan

No. of pages:- 323 pages

Date published:- will be published on March 17th 2022

Publisher:- Avon

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Someone is watching her. She just doesn’t know it yet.

Nell Sweeney has led an ordinary life. Every day she walks to and from the hospital where she works as a nurse, believing that no harm can befall her.

Until one day she is taken.

Because someone out there has a secret. Someone out there has been watching Nell – and they’ve been watching others like her too.

Nell is the unlucky one – she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if she isn’t found soon, someone will make sure that she isn’t the last woman to disappear…

The Nurse by Claire Allan is a fast paced thriller that will hook you into the story from the first chapter itself.

Marian and Stephen Sweeney are happily married with a daughter Nell who is independent and works as a nurse. One day, Marian gets a call from Nell’s roommate that Nell hasn’t been seen around for a few days and that she didn’t even go to work, which is highly unlikely of her. Someone has been watching Nell and that someone has a deep dark secret.

This is the first book I have read from this author and actually, this story was really good. There were some twists and turns along the way, with a fast paced theme that will draw the reader into the story. Besides the family drama of Marian dealing with her daughter’s disappearance, there is also the dark story of that “someone” who gets into a wrong type of group. The story is told from the perspectives of Marian, “the someone” and Nell, who is describing her situation as a kidnapped person. Overall, to me, I stayed up all night, reading this book, trying to see who this “someone” is and what will happen in the end! This was actually a really good fast paced thriller that will not disappoint anyone!

Worth five stars in my opinion!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Claire Allan is a Northern Irish author who lives in Derry~Londonderry.

She worked as a staff reporter for the Derry Journal for 17 years, covering a wide array of stories from court sessions, to the Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday, health and education and human interest features.

She wrote her first novel in 2006, to mark her 30th birthday and it (Rainy Days and Tuesdays) was subsequently published and became an instant bestseller in 2007.

Claire wrote seven further women’s fiction novels between 2007 and 2015. In 2016 (when she turned 40) she decided to change genre and try her had at domestic noir. Her first domestic noir novel, Her Name Was Rose was published by Avon/ HarperCollins in 2018 and became a bestseller in the UK, Canada, Australia and was a USA Today bestseller.

It was subsequently nominated in the Dead Good Reader Awards in 2019.

Claire has followed up on the success of Her Name Was Rose with Apple of My Eye and Forget Me Not.

Her next novel, The Liar’s Daughter, will be published in 2020.

She is working on a fifth psychological thriller at present.

Claire still lives in Derry with her husband, two children, two cats and a very spoiled puppy.

Books with Diverse Cast of Characters

Hello all! Today I decided to select books that has diverse characters in it. Diverse characters means where at least one of the main characters in the book belongs to a minority race.

So here’s my list

  1. Hana Khan Carries on – Uzma Jalaludin

2. Take A Hint- Dani Brown – Talia Hibbert

3. Dial A For Aunties – Jesse Q Sutanto

4. Tokyo Ever After – Emiko Jean

5. The Children’s Secret – Nina Monroe

6. Arsenic and Adobo – Mia P. Manansala

7. Firekeeper’s Daughter – Angeline Boulley

8. The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams

9. The Arctic Curry Club – Dani Redd

10. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow – Laura Taylor Namey

The Influencers – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Influencers

Author:- S.V. Leonard

No. of pages:- 276 pages

Date published:- will be published on March 10th 2022

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:- 4/5 stars

A filter can hide all manner of secrets…

When budding true crime blogger Maggie Shaw is invited to the Influencer of the Year awards, it feels like everything is finally falling into place. The party is held on a glamorous yacht and presents the perfect opportunity for Maggie to network – the first step towards achieving her dream of turning her hobby into a full-time job. But by the end of the night, there’s one question on everybody’s lips: who killed Stella Knight?

Stella was beautiful and famous. Her life appeared to be perfect. But behind the façade, Stella had made a number of enemies – and all of them were on board.

A page-turning crime thriller, perfect for fans of Catherine Cooper and Lucy Foley.

Maggie Shaw is a budding blogger and gets invited to a high profile award show, with a party held in a glamorous yatch. While trying to gain connections, the party soon turns to a nightmare when a famous blogger Stella Knight was found murdered. Maggie along with another blogger must find who killed Stella Knight.

The story first started slow and I was slightly bored. The story is mainly told from Maggie’s perspectives as Maggie is determined to find out who killed the infamous blogger. I felt like I was watching some soap opera crime drama show with all those wannabe rich people and bloggers who wanted to be recognized. But despite the flaws, the writing was good and the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story. But towards the end, the story started getting more interesting and…yes the reason my initial 3 star rating bumped up to a 4 star rating was the ending! The ending was completely unexpected and I was literally flabbergasted!

So as I mentioned, the ending in this book was really good despite the fact that the story started slow, not very fast paced and not much of twists and turns. Worth four stars in my opinion!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

S. V. Leonard grew up in the little coastal town of Formby, a suburb of Liverpool. She studied Classics at Oxford University and has been lucky enough to live in Australia, Poland, and Malaysia. She is now based in London. When not writing, she can be found breaking out of escape rooms; doing historical walking tours of London; or drinking wine.

Peach Blossom Spring – ARC Book Review

Small Update–I may not be able to regularly post blogs due to the fact that Sri Lanka is experiencing power cuts these days…well truth to be told, the economic situation in our country isn’t looking very good.

But let’s get back to ARC Book review!

Title:- Peach Blossom Spring

Author:- Melissa Fu

No. of pages:- 442 pages

Date published:- will be published on 13th March 2022

Genre:- Historical Fiction

Rating:-

With every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time.

It is 1938 in China, and the Japanese are advancing. A young mother, Meilin, is forced to flee her burning city with her four-year-old son, Renshu, and embark on an epic journey across China. For comfort, they turn to their most treasured possession – a beautifully illustrated hand scroll. Its ancient fables offer solace and wisdom as they travel through their ravaged country, seeking refuge.

Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. His daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, but he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down?

Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the search for a place to call home.

This book is a family saga starting from China during the 1938 to Taiwan and to the United States, spanning from 1938 till the 2000. This is a story of an emotional family story of a woman named Meilin and her son Renshu.

The story starts with Meilin and Renshu escaping from the city in China to escape from the Japanese. After the Japanese lost the war and communism is threatening to grip mainland China, Meilin and Renshu then escapes to Taiwan to start new life. They have a beautifully illustrated scroll filled with ancient fables and folk stories to find solace and gain knowledge about wisdom. Then Renshu, gets a scholarship to America, where he is then known as Henry Dao. He gets married to an American woman named Rachel and together they have a daughter named Lily. The ending mainly focus on the life in America, how Henry tries to get into the American culture by even forbidding his own daughter to learn Chinese and facing daily racism.

There are so many things I liked about this book. This book reminded me a little of Good Earth by Pearl S Buck. Though the story itself is fictional, the ordeal that Meilin and Renshu went through while escaping from the Japanese and later from the communists were all too realistic and horrifying. Both mother and son endured many hardships along the journey particularly when leaving China and moving to Taiwan with false papers. I do like the mother and son relationship between the two and I have to say, the author has done tremendous research about the life back in those days. The writing is written beautifully, captivating readers like us and I was hooked into the book. One that drew me very close to the story was the stories that Meilin shared with Renshu while journeying together, through the scroll they had–I love learning about different countries’ folk tales and so I actually enjoyed reading them, particularly about “Peach Blossom Spring” and the “The Girl who fought against the Serpent.” The racism that Henry faced was all too realistic although I do like the slow romantic relationship between Rachel and Henry. I also liked Lily’s character as well. The ending was emotional but at the same time, I really enjoyed the ending!

If you like a good historical family saga fiction, Peach Blossom Spring will be perfect. A truly emotional, story that will captivate your heart till the end! Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and has lived in Texas, Colorado, New York, Ohio and Washington. She now lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband and children. With academic backgrounds in physics and English, she has worked in education as a teacher, curriculum developer, and consultant. She was the 2018/19 David TK Wong Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Peach Blossom Spring is her first novel.