The One That Got Away by Charlotte Rixon | Blog Tour Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

The One That Got Away by Charlotte Rixon

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Aria

Publication date: 2nd February 2023

Blurb:

Two years together. Twenty years apart. One day to change their story.

Benjamin's world is turned upside down the day he meets Clara. Instinctively, he knows that she is his person and he is hers, but the events of one devastating night will take their lives in very different directions.

20 years later, a bombing is reported in the city where Clara and Ben met, and she is pulled back to a place she tries not to remember and the first love she could never forget. Searching for Ben, Clara prays that twenty years of silence is about to end.

But is it too late to put right what went wrong?

This is not a love story. But it is a story of first love, of the mistakes people make, and the lengths they'll go to put things right.

Review:

This book is just wonderful! I went into it thinking it was a typical "missing your first love" type of book but I couldn't be more wrong.

The story spans across different times from the early 2000s to present day. Clara and Benjamin meet during their first year at university. Benjamin is very kind and gentle and is a massive lover of football. Clara thinks the world of Benjamin and thinks they will be together forever. She just can't stand his love of football. Clara's personality at this time is very juvenile and she does come across as a bit annoying but to be honest, it is reflective of her age and we can see how she has grown up in present times.

In present day, Clara is a journalist living in London and Benjamin is a single dad to Aiden and they live in Newcastle. There has been an explosion at the football stadium where Aiden is and Benjamin is frantic because he can't get hold of him.

Obviously Clara and Benjamin aren't together anymore, with Clara now being married to Thom, but we are drip fed information about Clara and Benjamin's relationship back then before we eventually find out what happened in the end. Clara has always thought about him.

There is so much to unpack with this book and I was fully immersed in the characters. Trigger warnings for child sex abuse, sexual assault, suicide and death.

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A massive thank you to Aria for having me on the blog tour. You can find information about the other bloggers taking part in the tour in the graphic below.

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover | Book Review

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Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Montlake

Publication date: 10th December 2019

Blurb:

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris―Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

Review:

This was my third attempt at a Colleen Hoover book and I am so glad I gave her another chance.

Regretting You opens with Morgan, Chris, Jonah and Jenny as teens at a party with Morgan discovering she is pregnant with Chris's baby. 

Fast-forward to present day, Morgan and Chris are married and their daughter Clara is sixteen. Jonah has returned after almost 17 years away (he left right after the aforementioned party) and he now has a baby with Jenny, Morgan's sister, after a one-night stand.

After a tragic accident, their lives are thrown into disarray with a lot of secrets spilling out. Clara is trying to navigate her first relationship, the loss of two of her favourite people and a strained relationship with her mother.

I wasn't a fan of Clara for the majority of the book but I have to admit that I absolutely loved the development of all of the characters. I love how they grew together and understood one another. It had depth. I did feel a little awkward about sexual encounters featuring sixteen and seventeen year olds though.

This book was very emotional and was very well-written in terms of showing hurt and betrayal. Special brownie points for the Twenty One Pilots mention. My favourite Colleen Hoover book so far.

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Atlantic Books

Publication date: 6th October 2022

Blurb:

Abby Lamb has done it. She's found the Great Good in her husband, Ralph, and together they will start a family and put all the darkness in her childhood to rest. But then the Lambs move in with Ralph's mother, Laura, whose depression has made it impossible for her to live on her own. She's venomous and cruel, especially to Abby, who has a complicated understanding of motherhood given the way her own, now-estranged, mother raised her.

When Laura takes her own life, her ghost starts to haunt Abby and Ralph in very different ways. Ralph is plunged into depression, and Abby is being terrorized by a force intent on taking everything she loves away from her. With everything on the line, Abby must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to prove her adoration to Ralph and break Laura's hold on the family for good.

Review: 

What on earth did I just read? 

Abby and her husband Ralph move in with Ralph's mother Laura to help look after her. Laura divorced Ralph's father when he was nine years old and Ralph has been her world ever since. She is clearly dependent on him and no one is good enough for her son, especially not Abby. All Abby ever wanted was a mother figure as her relationship with her own mother wasn't great but evidently it isn't something she will get from her mother in law.

After many suicide threats, Laura succeeds and Abby feels like she and Ralph's life will now be better without Laura in it. But Laura isn't really gone. Well, her body might be...but she is in the home still determined not to let her son go. Abby needs to find a way to get rid of Laura once and for all.

There is a real horror and supernatural element to this book. The descriptions of even mundane things are gory and interesting and although the theme is dark with mentions of suicide, depression and sexual assault, the main character of Abby is hilarious.

I loved the running theme of motherhood throughout and it is really clever. Not like anything I've ever read before!

People Change by Sara Jafari | Blog Tour Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

People Change by Sara Jafari

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Penguin

Publication date: 2nd February 2023

Blurb:

When Shirin bumps into Kian at a house party in Brixton, she is taken aback by the feelings that resurface.

They last saw one another ten years ago as sixteen-year-olds at school in Hull. And the weight of everything left unsaid since then still hangs between them.

But now they're back in each other's lives, it's harder to run from the past.

There's nothing worse than losing the person you trust with your deepest secrets.

Can it be different second time around?

Review:

People Change follows Shirin, an assistant editor in publishing and Kian, an artist. The two went to secondary school together but haven't seen each other in ten years. They reconnect at a party through mutual friends and begin to start up a friendship again.

The two clearly have a past but this past isn't smooth. Both went through troubling times and as we read, we discover what exactly happened between them and if they can forget about the past for their future. 

It is very focused on race, both characters being British-Iranian. From bullying and prejudice they experience at school which even continues through into the workplace in present times. It also centres around finding yourself, being vulnerable and I have to add a trigger warning for depression and suicidal thoughts too.

It is a beautiful and moving story.

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A massive thank you to Penguin for having me on the blog tour.

Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos | Blog Tour Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo

Publication date: 2nd February 2023

Blurb:

Lucinda has lived her whole life in the shadow of her glamorous and outgoing high-end model sister Viviana. But when Viviana suddenly disappears on a trip to São Paulo, Lucinda drops everything to track her down. 

Met with indifference from the police, Lucinda joins forces with Viviana's girlfriend Graziane to launch her own investigation. When she discovers that her sister had a thriving career as a sex worker, the list of possible suspects widens. Then a cryptic text suggests that Viviana is still alive but being held hostage. With the minutes ticking by, Lucinda and Graziane must track down the men from Viviana's past to discover who might want to do her harm. 

A furiously contemporary and vibrant thriller that crackles with danger.

Review:

I loved this!

The story follows sisters Lucinda and Viviana. Viviana, a model, is away for work and Lucinda is looking after her house. When she gets a message from Graziane, a lady who Viviana was supposed to be meeting up with, saying that Viviana has gone missing, panic ensues.

The Brazilian police aren't helpful at all so the women take matters into their own hands. Lucinda searches through her sister's personal items, trying to find out what could have happened. She discovers the truth about Viviana's relationship with Graziane and learns that her sister was actually a sex worker. This then makes their list of potential suspects that much more difficult.

After receiving a text which suggests that Viviana has been kidnapped, the chase to get to her before anything happens begins.

I really like the juxtaposition between the sisters in this novel. Lucinda is very 'by the book' and judges Viviana a little for what she does. I really loved Viviana's point of view and how she describes what a woman's place in society should be and how she challenges that. Really enjoyable!

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Thank you so much to Pushkin for having me on the blog tour. You can find information about the other bloggers taking part in the tour in the graphic below.