The Innocent Wife by Sally Royer-Derr

                                        

Ebook:  279 pages Kindle Edition

Genre:  Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Domestic Thriller,

Publisher: Storm Publishing January 13th 2025 

Source:  NetGalley 

First Sentences: I stand by the curtains in the bedroom watching the light fabric dance in the breeze flowing through the half-open window. The late September air is cool and crisp.

Review Quote: “I absolutely loved this book. It sucked me in and didn’t let go till the end. The characters were intriguing and the plot twists were very surprising. Highly recommend this book.” Reader Review,

My Opinion: 

I was attracted to this novel as the cover claims it is a gripping and unputdownable domestic thriller. Sadly it was a disappointment and did not reach my expectations. Maybe it was just a case of picking this up to read at the wrong time as I appear to be in the minority in my opinion.

A multi-layered storyline of which the main protagonists are Natalie, who has just started a new job in a school and a new friend, the wife of a work colleague, Olivia. They have a strange connection as a past trauma of Natalie’s surfaces again after twenty years as she discovers that Olivia is now suffering in the same way!

Lacking in intrigue I was not drawn in by the characters or the sometimes unbelievable events, as there were for me just too many coincidences. With thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read and review.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

In this house, love and betrayal sleep side by side…

Olivia Hanson’s husband, Lucas, is her rock; charming and successful, he offers her safety, security and the life she always dreamed of. In return, Olivia is a picture-perfect housewife, smiling and supportive. Until she meets Lucas’s new colleague, Natalie, and sees the flash of hatred in her eyes.

Olivia only wants to clear up the misunderstanding. But when she befriends Natalie, secrets come tumbling out that expose the ugly side of Olivia’s beautiful marriage and she realizes there is another young woman caught up in Lucas’s lies. Olivia learned long ago that her husband is no saint, but he’s about to discover that neither is she…

A chilling, emotionally charged domestic thriller with a jaw-dropping twist. The Innocent Wife is perfect for fans of The Housemaid, The Perfect Marriage and The Girl on the Train.

Author Profile:         

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                                      

                                              Courtesy of Amazon Profile

Sally Royer-Derr is an award-winning author of several novels including, High Bluffs Trilogy, The Tracks, and Ohana. She has degrees in psychology and education. Writing has been a passion of Sally’s since childhood. Throughout her life, she has worked in education and banking, but writing has always proved to be her true love. Sally lives in Pennsylvania with her family.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Profile.    Twitter Profile.     Goodreads Profile.    Author - Official Website

The StoryTeller's Daughter by Victoria Scott

                                                      

Ebook:  384 pages Kindle Edition

Genre:  HistoricalFiction,  Family Saga, 

Publisher:  Boldwood Books January 15th 2025 

Source:  NetGalley 

First Sentences: 'I knew it was you,' she says, wanting to make it clear, right now, that she knows he's been lying to her about who he is.

Review Quote: Wonderful. My first by this author but not the last. Reader Review.

My Opinion: 

A new to me author I was first attracted to this title as when reading the blurb I discovered it was set in rural Surrey. Imagine how delighted I was then to discover later that not only was it set in the Dorking area, my birthplace, but that the country estate Melham Manor is based on a place I know well!

The protagonist Nita Bineham is based on a real person who is a distant relative to Victoria Scott. She has carefully blended this lady into an entirely fictional but credible account of her WWII secrets that were buried for decades. Until in 2008 her great niece Beth is drawn into a family mystery.

An engaging dual timeline story of secrets and loss which is recommended to fans of historical family drama and intrigue. With thanks to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and the author for giving me the opportunity to read and review 'The StoryTeller's Daughter.'

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

A secret buried for decades… A story that will change everything.

1940: When twenty-one-year-old Nita Bineham is offered the chance of independence, away from the high walls of her family’s Surrey estate, she grasps it with both hands. But her new role at a local newspaper coincides with the emergence of a sinister rumour in their quiet village: that there is a traitor in their midst. Nita is determined to prove herself by uncovering the truth, but is she prepared for revelations that could change her life forever?

2008: Following the death of her great aunt, Beth flees London for the privacy of rural Surrey. Within the confines of her family’s dilapidated manor house, she hides from the dual wreckage of her career and her marriage. But when her aunt’s dying words lead her to a stack of old newspaper articles, Beth finds herself drawn into a decades old mystery: about a long-buried secret, and an enemy dangerously close to home.

Author Profile:         

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                 

                                              Courtesy of Amazon Profile

Victoria writes thought-provoking, life-affirming fiction that keeps you turning the pages.

Victoria started her career as a broadcast journalist at the BBC, before moving into the freelance world, working for outlets like the Telegraph and Al Jazeera. When she’s not writing novels, she lectures in Journalism at Kingston University and is an enthusiastic (but amateur) singer and gardener.

Victoria lives on a Thames island with her husband and two children and a cat called Alice.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Victoria Scott - Amazon Profile     Goodreads - Author Profile.     Author's Website

Facebook Profile.   Twitter Profile.   Instagram - Victoria Scott

Someone Else's Shoes by Jo Jo Moyes

                                                                          

                                             

Audiobook:  12 hours listening

Narrated By:  Daisy Ridley

Genre: Audio Book,Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Fiction 

Publisher:  February 2023 - Penguin Audio

Source:  Audible 

First Sentences: Sam stares up at the slowly lightening ceiling and practises her breathing, like the doctor advised her, as she tries to stop her 5.am thoughts congealing into one enormous dark cloud above her head.

Review Quote: 'Hard-hitting and laugh-aloud . . . Two women's lives intertwine and change profoundly in this story full of richly imagined characters' THE TIMES

 My Opinion: 

Jo Jo Moyes is an author whose writing I have been reading since 2002, but this is a first for me as I listened on Audible.

The story of Nisha and Sam and the mess they find themselves in when Nisha's husband starts divorce proceedings against her, plus quite by chance she and Sam get caught up in each others problems thanks to a mix up at the gym, is a warm hearted one. Though sometimes tending on the farcical!

An entertaining listen that I can recommend to anyone looking to be taken away from reality for awhile. either as a listen or of course a read. 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from international sensation Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else's shoes?

Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope—she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp—in the bleakest point of her life—has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag—she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humour, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.

Author Profile:         

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                  

                                              Courtesy of Goodreads Profile

Pauline Sara Jo Moyes (born 4 August 1969), known professionally as Jojo Moyes, is an English journalist and, since 2002, an award-winning romance novelist

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. 

Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Goodreads Profile    Jo Jo Moyes - Books.   Wikipedia Profile

Sisters and Husbands by Amanda Brookfield

 

                                              

Ebook:  386 pages Kindle Edition

Genre:  Fiction, Family Saga, 

Publisher:  Boldwood Books December 12th 2024 (Originally published in 2002)

Source: My Kindle 

First Sentences: The best part of the dream was slipping from her grasp, buckling under the pressure of an uncomfortable urgency connected to the outside world, a dim sense of guilt.

Review Quote: 'If Joanna Trollope is the queen of the Aga Saga, then Amanda Brookfield must be a strong contender for princess.' Oxford Times

My Opinion: 

I feel cheated as it was not until I started 'Sisters and Husbands' that I discovered that it was originally published in 2002 and I read it first back then! From the late 90's until 2009 I was a regular reader of Amanda Brookfields novels and have read around half of her published books. Since then for some reason none of her books have come my way. My memories of having enjoyed her writing in the past were stirred when I saw this title advertised, not a hint reached me that it was a republished title though.

A family saga of two sisters, Anna and Becky, sibling love at its best and worst.  The dynamics of their relationships with each other, their parents and husbands are at the core of this character driven story. Life doesn't always go the way we hope or intend it to.

Despite my personal initial disappointment I still recommend this to a new generation of womens fiction readers.  If however you are old timer like me who has been reading Amanda Brookfield for over twenty years, check first that you have not already read this one. I will also be reading more of her books in the future I hope!

Thanks to Net Galley, Boldwood Books and the author for the opportunity to read and review.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Ever since the death of their father twenty years before, beautiful thirty-two-year-old Anna has acted as her younger sister Becky’s support, playing the peace-maker in her stormy relationship with their mother, and counselling her through the traumas of a life that has always appeared charmless and problematic in comparison to her own.

Now married to wealthy, handsome David Lawrence, with a luxurious country home and a successful career in broadcasting, Anna’s good fortune looks set to continue. But when she unexpectedly falls pregnant and Becky’s marriage runs into trouble, the door to the sisters past suddenly swings open, exploding all their long-held perceptions both of each other and themselves.

Perfect for fans of Erica James, Elizabeth Noble, Joanna Trollope and Anita Shreve, Amanda Brookfield gets to the heart of what it means to be a family and the power of sibling love.

Author Profile:         

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                              

                                              Courtesy of Amazon Profile

About the author in her own words from Amazon Profile.

'From The Cat in The Hat onwards I was mad about reading. I studied English at uni and then worked in advertising for three years. Seeking bigger adventures, I took myself to Argentina as a freelance journalist which is where I also wrote my first novel, Alice Alone. 19 books later, and I am still pinching myself...

My driving inspiration is relationships, because they lie at the heart of our search for happiness, and because I love trying to make sense of the trillion ways in which they can go wrong, or right.

I am a realist, but also a true romantic, always panning for the gold in the mud.

Thank you for hearing me, and Happy Reading, whatever it is.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Author Page.       Goodreads Author Profile.     Author Official Website

Twitter Profile