Part of the Family

WHAT WOULD YOU SACRIFICE TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH?

ISBN 0008327025
(ISBN13: 9780008327026)

On the surface, Anna Witherall personifies everything the aspirational magazine she works for represents. Married to her university boyfriend David, she has a beautiful home and gorgeous three-year-old twin daughters, Stella and Rose. But beneath the veneer of success and happiness, Anna is hiding a dark secret, one that threatens to unravel everything she has worked so hard to create.
As Anna finds herself drawn into the dark and highly controlled world of secret intelligence, she is forced to question her family’s safety, and her own. Only one thing is certain: in order to protect her children, she must leave them, forever. 
And someone is watching. Someone she thought she could trust. Someone who is determined to make them all pay.
Stylish and assured, The Most Difficult Thing is an irresistible combination of contemporary espionage and domestic suspense, and a compulsive, highly charged examination of betrayal.

400 pages

Published April 16 2020

(The Borough Press)

First Impression

Set in 1st person Part of the Family is a slow paced story giving the accounts of Anna and Maria in three parts.

Through a prologue we are given an insight into the afternoon of a woman later found out to be Anna, 2 month after giving birth being out shopping on her own. Maria is described as the Ever-compentant nanny of her twins. 

3 years (chapter one) 05:40 having another night where she has hardly sleep Anna gets up quietly as not to disturb her husband, david. An hour later, she is ready for her to leave to catch up on work before her 12pm flight, having kissed her girls goodbye, all that is left is to walk through the open door.

My Rating ⭐

There are a lot of mixed reviews about Part of the Family so I was starting with an open-mind.

The first thing that comes to mind is how confusing the story is, there were lots of flashbacks leaving  more questions than answers eg. The prologue is 2 months after Anna gave birth, chapter one 3 years into the future then chapter 3 is when she was a teen. 

I found it odd and increasingly difficult to get a clear picture on what is happening some pages made me question why I chose Part of the Family. 

Through the changing plot twists I struggled to from a connection to any characters and any time start to like a character something happened for me to change my mind.

It took long than expected to read, and I left feeling disappointed at a whole the ending for me was flat and felt rushed.

Quotes

The Dutch House

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to

ISBN 0062963678
(ISBN13: 9780062963673)

begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.
Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

337 pages

Published September 24th 2919

(Harper)

First Impression

Set in the 1st person The Dutch House is in three parts, giving the life story of a boy called Danny, who is 8 when he is introduced to us...

As an audience we are taken on the journey as Danny explains his experiences and relationships with those around him through his life.

My Rating ⭐⭐

I was looking forward to reading The Dutch House (May 2020 BOTM), but after a while it seemed to fall a bit flat. 

Upon reading the first 5 chapters I felt really sorry for Danny and his sister, Maeve as the have a strained relationship with their father especially after their mother left.

After their father remarries to Angela, who has two daughters herself both Danny and Maeve are pushed even further away and rely on eachother.

Some of the things I found issue with it the fact that it seems more like I was reading a time jump as Danny was 8 then a teenager. Through this I struggled to piece together a idea of what I was reading. 

As soon as I hit chapter 9 I felt I could push through any more as I was underwhelmed and quite frankly I was lost.

Quotes

"But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we're not seeing it as the people we were, we're seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered.”

“Disappointment comes from expectation,”

A Good Marriage

Big Little Lies meets Presumed Innocent in this

ISBN 0062367684
(ISBN13: 9780062367686)

riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia, in which a woman’s brutal murder reveals the perilous compromises some couples make—and the secrets they keep—in order to stay together.
Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.
No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.
The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect.
As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Grace Hall private school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.

400 pages

Published May 5th 2020

(Harper)

First Impression

Set in the 1st person, A Good Marriage tells the story of Lizze and Amanda with a manuscript of the jury.

One evening whilst working late at the office, Lizzie receives a call from a friend, Zach, who after coming home from a "adult party" finds his wife, Amanda dead and has been arrested on suspicion of her death. 

After agreeing reluctantly to represent him 

My Rating ⭐⭐

A Good Marriage is BOTM for May 2020. 

So I was instantly expecting the book to have the WOW factor even though it was a slow paced book.

However, it failed to grip me in a meaningful way, which is a disappointment when there was a lot of 5 star reviews. 

I was not keen on Amanda's character and felt no connection to any of the characters. The writing was sloppy and all over place, making I it difficult to pick the plot back up after putting down... The court testimony seem pointless and irrelevant leading me to at times having to re-read previous pages.

After reading 100 pages I had to give up as I couldn't stand to read anymore.

Quotes

The Turn of the Key

When she stumbles across the

ISBN 1501188771
(ISBN13: 9781501188770)

ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.
It was everything.
She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

337 pages

Published August 6th 2019

(Gallery/Scout Press)

First Impression

In the beginning the turn of the Key comes across as a letter to a solicitor trying to employ his services to prove her innocence.

It also highlights the plot of behind the story.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

As April's Book of the Month (Waterstones), The Turn of the Key is one of the most emotional, surprising story I have read so far...there were shocking twists and the ending brought a tear to my eye I wasn't expecting the ending.

Quotes

“Better to achieve perfect marks on an easy test than flunk a hard one, that was my motto.”

On Chapel Sands

Uncovering the mystery of her

ASIN B07NDQV597

mother’s disappearance as a child: Laura Cumming, prize-winning author and art critic, takes a closer look at her family story.

In the autumn of 1929, a small child was kidnapped from a Lincolnshire beach. Five agonising days went by before she was found in a nearby village. The child remembered nothing of these events and nobody ever spoke of them at home. It was another fifty years before she even learned of the kidnap.

The girl became an artist and had a daughter, art writer Laura Cumming. Cumming grew up enthralled by her mother’s strange tales of life in a seaside hamlet of the 1930s, and of the secrets and lies perpetuated by a whole community. So many puzzles remained to be solved. Cumming began with a few criss-crossing lives in this fraction of English coast – the postman, the grocer, the elusive baker – but soon her search spread right out across the globe as she discovered just how many lives were affected by what happened that day on the beach – including her own.

On Chapel Sands is a book of mystery and memoir. Two narratives run through it: the mother’s childhood tale; and Cumming’s own pursuit of the truth. Humble objects light up the story: a pie dish, a carved box, an old Vick’s jar. Letters, tickets, recipe books, even the particular slant of a copperplate hand give vital clues. And pictures of all kinds, from paintings to photographs, open up like doors to the truth. Above all, Cumming discovers how to look more closely at the family album – with its curious gaps and missing persons – finding crucial answers, captured in plain sight at the click of a shutter.

293 pages

Published July 4th 2019

(Vintage Digital)

First Impression

Laura Cumming tell the story of her mother, who was kidnapped at 3, while she was on the beach. Pictures are included throughout the book.

My Rating⭐⭐⭐

As April's Book of the Month (Waterstones), On Chapel Sands is a true account of the events of 1929, where a 3 year old, Betty was kidnapped only to be found 5 days later.

I was quite disappointed with the slow pace. Written by her mother in her sixties the book contains some of her memories and also the speculation of her daughter. I was expecting a riveting story but it fell short, seeming to focus on Laura's feelings instead of her mother's.

Quotes

“Memories calcify over the years: everything grows more extreme – the brightness incandescent, the darkness infinitely worse.”

The Guest List

EACH HAS A SECRET, EACH HAS A MOTIVE.
Off the windswept Irish coast, guests gather for the wedding of the year.
Old friends 

Past grudges
Happy families
Hidden jealousies
Thirteen guests
One body
ONE GUEST WON'T LEAVE THIS WEDDING ALIVE...
GUESTS ARE INVITED TO CORMORANT ISLAND.
The stag is set for the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. The setting is spectacular, the planning meticulous, the atmosphere alive with nostalgia as the guests toast the most golden of couples.
Yet under the cloak of happniess, dark secrets begin to spill and old grudges surface. And the wedding cake has barely been cut when someone is found dead.
As a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped - and the killer circulates amongst the guests.
IT STARTS WITH A PARTY.
IT'LL END IN MURDER.

320 pages

Published March 19th 2020

(William Morrow)

Just a Side Warning: Before you read The Guest List it doesn't state anywhere, but please note this book contains self-harm and eating disorders...if you or anyone you know suffers from any of these please seek help.

First Impression

The Guest List shows separate viewpoints of the wedding night and of 5 People: Aoife, the wedding planner; Hannah, the plus 1; Jules, the bride; Johnno, the best man; and Olivia, the bridesmaid.

Aoife seems to be very organised and has to be very alert.

Hannah is Jules friends partner she seems like a busy woman and I find her an interesting character as she suffers from motion sickness.

Jules comes across as a control freak, yet "practical".

Johnny seems to be a bit of a drop out "I suddenly feel the need a hit to blur the edges and the weed I smoked earlier has worn off"

Olivia seem to have a lot of issues with self esteem.

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

As April's Book of the Month (Book of the Month) I was looking forward to reading The Guest List.

The book tells the story from different views I still was able to form a connection with each character. Yet I was quite surprised that there wasn't a warning about some of the issues that were raised.

There are plot twists like Jules received a note that was delivered 3 weeks before her wedding date telling her "not to marry Will. To call it off." Leaving her with a feel of "dread".

I was left guessing who it was who was killed and the killer till the very end it was a big shock when I found out.

I would recommend reading The Guest List it was a intriguing read.

Let me know what you think...

Quotes

Book of the Month April 2020

This is where I share the April 2020's book of the month with you and when I will be reading them

Genre

book of the month	Mystery My Thoughts
Waterstones	Non fiction My Thoughts
Waterstones	Thriller My Thoughts

I look forward to reading them join me reading them the dates on the weekly reading challenge