So, it's been a looooong time since I blogged. Like, years. BUT, I'm finding that there are too any good books out there that I am excited to shout about, so I'm thinking maybe I'll do a monthly round up of stuff I've enjoyed instead of shrieking all over Twitter all the time. So first up, March reads. All of these books I have read recently have been published this month (so there's no excuse for not buying them!) plus, there might be one or two older ones each month that I'll sneak in, purely because I can.
The Woman at 46 Heath Street - Lesley Sanderson
The letter is addressed to me. No stamp, swirly handwriting i black ink. I pull out a piece of paper, stiffening when I read the message. Hands trembling, the note slides to the floor: Your husband is having an affair.
Six words written in neat block letters. Six words slipped through her letterbox, destroying her marriage, exposing Ella’s perfect life as perfect lies.
But Ella has a plan: Alice is the answer to her problems. A lodger, to help keep her afloat, a friend, to keep the loneliness at bay.
Only Alice has her own reasons for wanting to live at 46 Heath Street…
Tense and twisty, this was a one sitting read for me. When Ella's husband leaves her she knows there's more to it than meets the eye...with great characterisation, a fast paced plot and a jaw dropping ending I raced through this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Woman-Heath-Street-absolutely-psychological-ebook/dp/B07MRL53J1
I Thought I Knew You - Penny Hancock
ho do you know better? Your oldest friend? Or your child?
And who should you believe when one accuses the other of an abhorrent crime?
Jules and Holly have been best friends since university. They tell each other everything, trading revelations and confessions, and sharing both the big moments and the small details of their lives: Holly is the only person who knows about Jules’s affair; Jules was there for Holly when her husband died. And their two children – just three years apart – have grown up together.
So when Jules’s daughter Saffie makes a serious allegation against Holly’s son Saul, neither woman is prepared for the devastating impact this will have on their friendship or their families.
Especially as Holly, in spite of her principles, refuses to believe her son is guilty.
A gripping read, I found this a tough but compelling story. Tough, in that as a mother of a teenaged boy it was very easy to put myself in the characters shoes and think, 'what would I do in that situation?' - it left me thinking about the story for days after. Penny Hancock manages to weave a brilliantly believable tale, as she puts her very relatable characters through the most horrendous experiences.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thought-Knew-You-thought-provoking-compelling-ebook/dp/B07K6PH62H
Her Closest Friend - Clare Boyd
Pop music blares from the radio. She sings drunkenly from the backseat. The thrash of windscreen wipers against the driving rain. The screech of tyres. A thud.
Naomi and I are best friends.
School runs, dog walks, a shoulder to cry on over a glass of wine, we’re inseparable.
But now my husband has walked out, I need her more than ever.
I know she will help me pick up the pieces.
Because she knows about the lie I told to protect her.
She knows how much I’ve sacrificed for this friendship.
And she’d never let anyone hurt me.
Would she?
This is my top read for March - the story of a poisonous, intense friendship, I could only read on in horror as Sophie's actions become more off the wall and more terrifying. As the story progresses the tension builds and the friendship between the two women becomes more toxic, leading to an absolutely shockingly twisted ending. A slow burner, this is exactly the kind of book I love to get stuck into and it was the perfect escape from my own twisted, toxic plotline that I am currently writing!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Closest-Friend-heart-pounding-psychological-ebook/dp/B07N6HJQ2M
Also this month I have loved:
* Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
*After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott
*Run Away by Harlen Coben