Reading Round Up 2021 #13

 Hello lovely book nerds.

Welcome to another tantalising reading round up. I have a rather diverse selection of books to share with you this week. I hope you'll be adding some of them to your reading lists.

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner 5 out of 5 stars

When you have it all... you have so much more to lose

Helen has it all...

Daniel is the perfect husband. Rory is the perfect brother. Serena is the perfect sister-in-law. And Rachel? Rachel is the perfect nightmare.

When Helen, finally pregnant after years of tragedy, attends her first antenatal class, she is expecting her loving architect husband to arrive soon after, along with her confident, charming brother Rory and his pregnant wife, the effortlessly beautiful Serena. What she is not expecting is Rachel.

Extroverted, brash, unsettling single mother-to-be Rachel, who just wants to be Helen’s friend. Who just wants to get know Helen and her friends and her family. Who just wants to know everything about them. Every little secret… 

                                                                                                                                                                           

Completely unexpected but in the best of ways.

What a debut!

I was hooked from the first page.

Katherine has done a fantastic job of creating some interesting characters, some more likeable than others.

Tension builds at a slow and steady pace and just when I thought I had the conundrums surrounding everyone solved, curve balls were thrown in to veer me off course.

And that conclusion, deliciously dark and devious. Someone got served their just desserts.

Greenwich Park is addictive and I guess brutal at times. There wasn't a single moment where I wanted to put it down and stop reading, if anything I had to make myself slow down so that I didn't miss important (hidden) details.

A successfully written thriller.

The Best is Yet to Come by Katy Collins 5 out of 5 stars 

Izzy has always taken everything in her stride but motherhood is proving more difficult than she thought. She keeps telling herself it’s just a phase but the dark clouds are starting to appear.

Neighbour and widower Arthur might be in the winter of his life but he’s not ready to be packed off to a care home. He’s determined to do things his way.

When Izzy hears about Arthur’s big move, she offers to help. But Arthur isn’t telling her the whole story. It takes courage to admit you need a friend and when you feel invisible, all you need is a ray of hope. After all, what if the best is yet to come?

                                                                                                                                                                           

This was my favourite read from last week.

What an utterly gorgeous tale this was.

Arthur (an OAP I guess you'd say) and Izzy (a young first-time mum), form an unlikely friendship in this story of discovery.

I was left smiling from ear to ear by the time I'd finished this novel.

Arthur is feeling like he's nearing the end of his life, having been without his wife Pearl for a couple of years, this is a man, who senses that he's lived all the days he needed to in the house that he's called home for so many years and he has now set out Operation Pearl in preparation for moving into a retirement home arranged by his nephew Jeremy.

Izzy, who having just given birth, is quite frankly struggling. Lack of sleep, a crying baby and no one to talk to, she feels like she's quite simply drowning in it all.

Who knew, that a case of a parcel being dropped at the wrong address could be the answer to both Arthur and Izzy's prayers.

What happens after this fateful day is honestly wonderfully touching.

Heartwarmingly hopeful, The Best is Yet to Come is a novel that is both humorous and humbling, a pure delight for the mind.

The characters felt real, their emotions sincere. I couldn't help but feel as though I wanted to be friends with both of them - as well as give them both a giant hug.

Each turn of the page provided me with what I'd describe as 'all the feels', palpable, what is observed in this story is so much more than a growing friendship, there is an intimacy and depth to all of it.

If you are in need of a mood lift (positive vibes only), then this is the novel you NEED to read.

The Imposter by Anna Wharton 5 out of 5 stars 

Chloe lives a quiet life. Working as a newspaper archivist in the day and taking care of her Nan in the evening, she's happy simply to read about the lives of others as she files away the news clippings from the safety of her desk.

But there's one story that she can't stop thinking about. The case of Angie Kyle - a girl, Chloe's age, who went missing as a child. A girl whose parents never gave up hope.

When Chloe's Nan gets moved into a nursing home, leaving Chloe on the brink of homelessness, she takes a desperate step: answering an ad to be a lodger in the missing girl's family home. It could be the perfect opportunity to get closer to the story she's read so much about. But it's not long until she realizes this couple aren't all they seem from the outside...

But with everyone in the house hiding something, the question is – whose secrets are the most dangerous?

                                                                                                                                                                           

I have a full review coming for the blog tour next week so look out for that. 

For now I will say this. Now the book is called The Imposter, so in theory someone has to be the imposter don't they. The question is who?

There were many layers to The Imposter. Little side arcs running alongside the main story.

And the ending, well it's worth reading just to reach that conclusion! I feel as though I need to re-read the book to look out for clues that I must have missed.

The Plague Letters by V.L. Valentine 4 out of 5 stars

London, 1665. Hidden within a growing pile of corpses, one victim of the pestilence stands out: a young woman with a shorn head and pieces of twine delicately tied around each ankle.

Symon Patrick, rector of St. Paul's Covent Garden, cannot say exactly why this corpse amongst the many in his churchyard should give him pause. Longing to do good, he joins a group of medical men who have gathered to find a cure for the plague, each man more peculiar and splenetic than the next. But there is another - unknown to The Society for the Prevention and Cure of Plague - who is performing his own terrible experiments upon unwilling plague-ridden subjects.

It is Penelope - Symon's unwanted yet unremovable addition to his household - who may yet shed light on the matter. Far more than what she appears, she is already on the hunt. But the dark presence that enters the houses of the sick will not stop, and has no mercy...

                                                                                                                                                                           

Again I have the pleasure of joining the blog tour for this book (keep your eyes peeled for the review).

This an historical thriller that easily transports you back in time.

The language, the settings, it is a brilliant piece of literature. I found myself trying to hear the characters accents in my head as I read.

It seemed almost fitting for the times considering what the world is going through right now.

With a strong cast of characters, a serial killer intent on causing more suffering to their victims and the plague infecting everyone in its path, this is an immersive tale with all events seemingly leading us to The Plague Society.

So many suspects!

This is a a deliciously, dark tale.

I'm now currently engrossed with The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan. What are your reading recommendations this week?