One Midnight With You by Shari Low - #bookreview #blogtour

 Ailish Ryan, 54 - Newly divorced mum, primary school teacher, recently moved from her family home to a two-bedroom flat where she is supposed to be embracing single life. And she will - just as soon as she works up the motivation to get out of her comfy clothes and Crocs...

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What would you do if you had just twenty-four hours to change your life?

Ailish Ryan has been in hiding since her husband’s affair ended their marriage. But when a friend forces her to face her new reality, will she choose to revisit the past or embrace a brand new future?

Ailish’s daughter, Emmy, thought her boyfriend was nothing like her cheating father, but now she’s not so sure. As the hours pass, she turns detective to find out if she picked the right man, or if history is repeating itself.

Grandmother, Minnie Ryan is on a mission to deliver a very special gift to a lifelong friend. But will grit and a touch of divine intervention be enough to overcome the obstacles that fate is putting in her way?

Dario Moretti has spent his whole life working in the family business, but now it’s in trouble and he’s all out of options. Will he have the strength to let it go, even if it means hurting the people he loves?

The clock is ticking… but will twenty-four hours be long enough to heal four broken hearts?

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This book is set in Scotland during the Hogmanay celebrations. I liked the way the narrative of this novel took place over a 24-hour period. Furthermore, each section is broken down into two hour time periods. This gave the book much immediacy and I enjoyed it very much.

It is a light-hearted, humorous and entertaining read. The chapters are written from the perspective of four of the characters, Ailish, her daughter Emmy,  Ailish's ex-mother-in-law Minnie and Dario, an old friend of the family. I enjoyed the way each of the characters moved the story along through their different perspectives.

 There was much to like about Ailish, and she was easy to engage with. However, there is a great cast of secondary characters who were equally entertaining. Ailish's friends Rhonda and Gwen were excellent, as were the individual men who revolve around the three women and contribute to the story.

There was much humour included in the story. However, there were also some more serious elements that the author handled well. At no time did this feel heavy. It remained along an upbeat tone and was joyous to read.

I very much liked the way the story covered the 24 hours leading up to the Hogmanay celebrations. The new year is a time to anticipate new beginnings and the author conveyed that very well.

I would say that this book would make for a wonderful read over the New Year period. However, we are now in early September and I doubt that I would want to wait until then. As it is available on Kindle Unlimited at the moment I recommend giving it a read. It would then make for a fantastic Christmas gift in the run up to the New Year celebrations.

ISBN: 978 1835184608

Publisher:  Boldwood Books

Formats:  e-book, audio, hardback and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages:  304 (paperback)

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About the Author:

Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 30 novels, including My One Month Marriage and One Summer Sunrise and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow.

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

Merry Christmas 2023

 

This will be my last post before the New Year and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. I hope the season brings you joy and happiness... and book shaped gifts under your tree.

I also wanted to say a huge thank you to you all for reading my blog. We all lead such busy lives and I am sincerely grateful that you take time out of your day to read my blog. It means such a lot to have your support, and to know that I am sharing some booky love.

Thank you also to those who share my posts around your social media channels, and to those who tell their friends about my blog through word of mouth.

This year saw me celebrate my ten year blog anniversary. I can still hardly believe that it has been a whole decade since I first posted my initial tentative post, whilst wondering if anyone would even see it!

I look forward to sharing more book reviews with you in the New Year. I hope 2024 brings you much health and happiness. See you then.

New Book Releases in January 2023

 

I am looking ahead at which fantastic books are being released in January 2023 and here are just ten which have caught my eye. It's incredible how many of them have a predominately blue coloured cover.

For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie

In the year of 1413, two women meet for the first time in the city of Norwich.

Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ - which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband's abuse - have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic.

Julian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty-­three years. She has told no one of her own visions - and knows that time is running out for her to do so.

The two women have stories to tell one another. Stories about girlhood, motherhood, sickness, loss, doubt and belief; revelations more the powerful than the world is ready to hear. Their meeting will change everything.

Sensual, vivid and humane, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain cracks history open to reveal the lives of two extraordinary women.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

Open the safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

Everyone knows the sad story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl and convinced her that her newborn baby was the anti-Christ. Believing they had a divine mission to kill the infant, they were only stopped when the girl came to her senses and called the police. The Angels committed suicide rather than stand trial, while mother and baby disappeared into the care system.

Nearly two decades later, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the Angels. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen and can finally be interviewed; if Amanda can find them, it will be the true-crime scoop of the year, and will save her flagging career. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and is also on the baby's trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that what everyone thinks they know about the Angels is wrong. The truth is something much darker and stranger than they'd ever imagined. And the story of the Alperton Angels is far from over...

The Village Vicar by Julie Houston

Three devoted sisters... One complicated family.

When Rosa Quinn left her childhood home in Westenbury, she never expected to return over a decade later as the village vicar. But after a health scare and catching her boyfriend cheating, Rosa jumps at the chance to start over and live closer to her triplet sisters Eva and Hannah.

But Rosa's isn't the only old face in the village, and when her role in the parish throws her into the path of her ex, she begins to wonder if she's made a terrible mistake. Meanwhile, Eva and Hannah face their own troubles, as secrets about their family threaten to emerge.

Can Rosa make a life for herself in Westenbury? Or will the sisters discover you can't run away from the past?

When I First Held You by Anstey Harris

Silence tore them apart. Can the truth bring them back together?

In 1960s Glasgow, anti-nuclear activists Judith and Jimmy fall in love. But their future hopes are dashed when their protestors’ squat is raided and many, including Jimmy, are sent to prison. Pregnant and with no word from Jimmy, Judith is forced to enter an unmarried mothers’ home, give up their baby and learn to live with her grief.

More than half a century later, Judith’s Mending Shop restores broken treasures, just as Judith herself has been bound back together by her late, much-missed partner, Catherine. But her tranquillity is shattered when Jimmy―so different and yet somehow the same―reappears, yearning to unpick the painful past.

Realising they each know only half of the other’s story, Jimmy and Judith finally break the silence that tore apart what might have been their family. Amid heartbreak and hope, how much can now be mended?

No One Saw It Coming by Susan Lewis

Hanna’s world is crumbling.

An unimaginable crime has been committed, and everyone’s looking for someone to blame. Her loved ones are under suspicion.

Now Hanna must work out who is threatening her family – before it’s too late.

No one could have seen this coming…

The Lodger by Helen Scarlett

London in 1919 was a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back from 'the war to end all wars.'

Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.

Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Elizabeth Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.

Elizabeth had been more than a lodger; she had become a close friend to Grace, who feels compelled to find out what happened. In doing so she is drawn reluctantly into the sordid and dangerous underbelly of London and a scandal that rocked Edwardian society. Soon Grace finds herself under threat, and the only person prepared to listen is the brooding Tom Monaghan. But Tom has dark shadows of his own to navigate before being able to put his past behind him to help Grace in her quest for the truth.

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, hoping to spend her summer working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she is assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval and Renaissance collections.

There she is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, each with their own secrets and desires, including the museum's curator, Patrick Roland, who is convinced that the history of Tarot holds the key to unlocking contemporary fortune telling.

Relieved to have left her troubled past behind and eager for the approval of her new colleagues, Ann is only too happy to indulge some of Patrick's more outlandish theories. But when Ann discovers a mysterious, once-thought lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards she suddenly finds herself at the centre of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship and ambition.

And as the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide whether she is truly able to defy the cards and shape her own future . . .

Bringing together the modern and the arcane, The Cloisters is a rich, thrillingly-told tale of obsession and the ruthless pursuit of power.

Dead Man's Creek by Chris Hammer

Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder - a 'file and forget'.

But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community. As more bodies are discovered, and she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her, Nell realises that finding the truth could prove more difficult - and dangerous - than she'd ever expected.

The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more treacherous her path becomes. Can she survive to root out the truth, and what price will she have to pay for it?

The Notekeeper by Hannah Treave

In order to love again, first she’ll need to learn how to live again…

Following a tragedy, Zoe flees Australia and makes a life for herself in the UK. Two years later, working as a care nurse in Bath and knowing just how much comfort last words can bring, Zoe has taken it upon herself to become a notekeeper - writing down the final thoughts of her patients and delivering them to their loved ones.

Zoe’s new boss, Ben, isn’t happy about her getting so involved in the patients’ lives. Even as they clash, they both begin to realise that facing one’s past is the only way to move on.

But life is never straightforward, especially for Zoe. In finally opening up her heart after all these years, is she about to have it broken all over again?

Danny Boy by Barry Walsh

Danny Byrne has grown up on a sprawling council estate in Pimlico. He knows every stone of it, and until now, his life has followed the same pattern as all his friends.

Danny is heading for A-levels and then university. Dodds is following his dad into the family butcher’s business, Crockett will sail on opportunity’s wings as it comes his way, and Nobby is flirting with drugs, and disaster.

As the long summer unfolds, the boys focus on girls, trade banter and test their friendships to the limit. When things take a darker turn, Danny must wrestle with his conscience and is pushed to breaking point. Can Danny find love and work out what is important to become the kind of man he wants to be?