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Recommendations from our holidays...

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

 

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

I loved this book as it was quite different to anything I’d read. Leila, a rather lonely, socially awkward girl, has a life that revolves around the internet. Following a number of posts she makes on a philosophy/ethics forum. the founder of the forum contacts her with a proposal. He knows a young woman, Tess, who wishes to take her own life but wants to do so in such a way that she will not upset family and friends. So, it is proposed that Tess will simply "disappear" and Leila will pretend to be Tess online. Leila becomes obsessed with learning all she can about Tess and ends up living in a complete fantasy world that she has created for Tess. I must admit that I found Leila incredibly irritating but an interesting character. This is a very dark and unsettling novel but very topical at this moment in time.



The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

The Stolen Ones by Richard Montanari

 

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

I’m not sure that the idea of a time travelling serial killer should work but it does! The novel tells the story of Harper, a vicious serial killer - in fact, I found him to be one of the most chilling I’ve encountered in crime fiction - who has killed young women between 1929 and 1993. He met all these women when they were just young girls, giving them gifts. He describes them as his "shining girls". However, one young woman, Kirby, survives his attack and is determined to track down the man who tried to kill her. Totally unbelievable but utterly gripping fiction.

 

The Stolen Ones by Richard Montanari

Dectives Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne are back, called to the murder of a man found on a seat in a park with a railroad spike rammed through his head. More gruesome bodies are found and a child is missing and so the hunt for the serial killer named Luther is on. He is traced to a closed down mental asylum for the criminally insane, where various weird therapies were carried out on patients. This book is so well plotted with twists and turns throughout. I found it unputdownable and did not guess the identity of the baddie. Lock the doors this is scary edge of your seat stuff. I loved it!


The Heist by Janet Evanovich

Summer of '76 by Isabel Ashdown

 

The Heist by Janet Evanovich

A new tale from the author of the Stephanie Plum series; Kate is an FBI agent on the hunt for Danny Cole – a notorious and charismatic con man. When her bosses grant Danny immunity in order to capture other criminals, Kate must put her ideals aside and work with her arch nemesis. A light and funny crime caper that entertained from the first page. I’m sure we’ll be seeing this unconventional crime fighting duo again soon.

 

Summer of ’76 by Isabel Ashdown

A simmering story set druing the long hot summer of 1976 on the Isle of Wight. The book focuses on 17 year old Luke and his family as he prepares to leave the island to study in Brighton. We see everything through his eyes - the mysterious parties attended by his parents, the scandal and gossip as a result of those parties, the family problems experienced by his best friend, his summer job on a holiday camp and his infatuation with the beautiful Sam. A coming of age tale that makes a perfect summer read.


The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson

The Movement of Stars by Amy Brill

 

The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson

Highly atmospheric historical thriller set in Paris at the start of the 20th century. Maud escapes from her provincial English town to an art studio in Paris, where she can further her studies. Paris in the winter, however, is an expensive life, and Maud descends into poverty. Offered a job as companion to Sylvie, an opium addict, Maud accepts and is caught up in a web of deceit, betrayal and revenge. This is an elegantly written, well constructed novel with a very strong sense of time and place, a thoroughly engrossing read.

 

The Movement of Stars by Amy Brill

1845, amateur astronomer Hannah dreams of a life beyond the small Quaker community in Nantucket where she has lived all her life. When she meets Isaac, a young black whale trader from the Azores, and agrees to tutor him in astronomy, her life changes...this novel is a love story and an exploration of the rules and expectations of society, a novel about hope and loyalty, appearances and beliefs.







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Recommendations from our holidays...
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