Last Kiss (First and Last #2) by Laurelin Paige

Synopsis from Amazon:

Emily Wayborn has made a decision.

She might not fully trust handsome and deadly Reeve Sallis, but he is the one person that gives her what she needs. With Reeve she can finally be herself. Submitting to him is the only thing keeping her grounded as the rest of her life falls apart. But the hotelier is a master at keeping secrets, and as she continues her quest for answers someone is making sure she doesn't find them.

Time is running out, and she is questioning everything she thought she knew about friendship and love. She must now make an impossible choice that will determine if she will survive with her heart...or at all.

            

                     

My review:

Picking up exactly where First Touch left off, Emily finds herself caring for her half broken friend Amber in the house of her lover Reeve. She know about their past and the fact that Reeve loved Amber and wanted to marry her so let's be honest the situation could be better. Reeve has only just revealed his feeling for Emily and so it seems that Amber certainly has some great timing.

Amber seems distraught and scared half to death. Still addicted to drugs doesn't really help and so she insist that Reeve is the only person who can keep her safe. Of course she wants him back, but she underestimates the connection that's blossomed between him and Emily.

Emily is loyal. That makes her choices that much harder. Does she choose the love of her live, the only man that understands her completely and she finally starts to trust; or her best friend, who has been there for her (to a point) and showed her a life that satisfied her needs. Amber is on a pedestal and it's a high one to fall from.

Personally I didn't trust Amber right from the start and I believed in Reeve and his feelings for Emily. Emily however struggles throughout the book. She doesn't trust herself to know what's best for her and seems to always see the worst in Reeve and the best in Amber.

Without giving the plot away, I thought this was a skilfully written second part of their story. Characters were kept believable and various twists and turns were hidden in between the lines.

I seem to say this a lot, but the genre 'erotica' might put people off, as most would think 50 Shades of Grey and run a mile. I have read a few books from this genre now and this series in particular is more of a 'drama/crime/mystery' to me. Yes it has graphic sex scenes in it, but what book or movie doesn't these days. So readers - don't be put off - First Touch and Last Kiss have in-depth characters and stories throughout that deserve to be read.

Thank you to Laurelin Paige and NetGalley for access to this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

My rating: 5/5

Available to purchase from:
Amazon UK
Amazon US

Someone Else's Child by Helen Klein Ross

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Some people will go to any lengths to have a baby...

Lucy Wakefield wants a child more than anything. So when she finds a seemingly abandoned baby in a store, she sees it as a sign. She doesn't mean for it to go as far it does.

Little does she realise the heartbroken family she leaves in her wake, nor the impact her reckless decision will have on the daughter she raises as her own.

Mia Wakefield has always known she was adopted but now she is about to discover the devastating secret of her birth - and the lengths her mother went to...

Link to Amazon UK:

Published by Ebury Press 11 August 2016

My review:

Lucy is not a kidnapper. She is a woman desperate for a baby, failing at one of the most natural things women are made for. It breaks her marriage, her soul and her heart.

She doesn’t plan to take the baby, she just sees a vulnerable little girl, left on her own in a supermarket trolley, with no one around to take care of her. She thinks the baby is cold and uncomfortable. So she pushes the trolley towards the exit to give her some fresh air. And she keeps pushing. She doesn’t stop at the exit, she doesn’t stop in the car park or when she puts the baby girl in her car. She keep going until she knows that what she has done will change her life forever.

I experienced contradicting emotions whilst reading this book. I felt sorry for Lucy and for the terrible decision she made when she took the little baby. I felt sorry for Marilyn for losing her baby this way, not knowing what happened to her. I felt angry with Lucy for thinking Marilyn would be ok if she had more children. And I felt sad for Mia, growing up thinking she was adopted only to have her life shattered to pieces later on.

We all think we know how we would feel or react if this kind of thing happened to us, but this book has changed my mind. It’s very well written; I enjoyed the short chapters written from points of view of all people involved in their lives as it proved how many people get affected by such incidents.

Thank you to very much Helen and NetGalley for access to this book in return for this honest opinion.

My rating: 5/5

I Found You by Lisa Jewell

Synopsis from Amazon:

East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.

Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's brilliant new novel.

Link to Amazon UK:

Published by Century (Penguin Random House) 14 July 2016

My review:

I still remember my introduction into the world of Lisa Jewell. It was her book Vince and Joy that I got as a freebie with a magazine that sucked me in and never let me go again. Lisa has a way of keeping hold of you inside her story. She has a way of making her characters believable and alive in a way that you end up having some kind sympathy even for the bad ones.

I Found You is a marvel. Right from the first page I felt I was a secret party to a story of many lives unfolding in a brilliant style that Lisa Jewell masters. It made me wonder what I would do if I found a man on that beach – man like ‘Frank’ as Alice’s family name him. What would I do if my husband disappeared like Lily’s.

Even though they do not know it for good part of the book, the lives of Frank, Lily, Carl and Alice are intricately intertwined and come to a head when secrets are revealed and memories are restored. Lisa makes you wait for it, only hinting a little and not giving much away throughout the book, but in such a skillful way that you just keep going, enjoying every word on every page.

I love Lisa’s writing. Her books are always interesting and this one perhaps darker than others I have read, but all the more intriguing all the way to the end.

Again I applaud Lisa for her great skill in taking me on a journey I did not want to end.

Thank you to Lisa Jewell and TBC for sending this beautiful book to me in return for this honest opinion.

My rating: 5/5

We'll Always Have Paris by Sue Watson

Synopsis from Amazon:

Does first love deserve a second chance?

When she was almost seventeen, Rosie Draper locked eyes with a charismatic student called Peter during their first week at art college, changing the course of her life forever. Now, on the cusp of sixty-five and recently widowed, Rosie is slowly coming to terms with a new future. And after a chance encounter with Peter, forty-seven years later, they both begin to wonder 'what if' . . .

Told with warmth, wit and humour, We'll Always Have Paris is a charming, moving and uplifting novel about two people; the choices they make, the lives they lead and the love they share.

Kindle edition published in the UK by Sphere 27 June 2016

  

My review:

This book is quite frankly beautiful. I found it such a relief to be reading something so uplifting and positive and inspiring. A book that gives hope to the reader for second chances and love and that things do just have a way of working out.

Rosie and her family are left bereft after their dad and husband Mike passes away and Rosie resigns herself to a life of loneliness and, well, just ticking over. She is a devoted mother and grandmother and could not do more for her children, but a chance meeting with a man from her past makes her realise that even a woman in her sixties is allowed to have hopes and dreams.

Peter was Rosie’s first love. Most of us have them. First loves are so important to us and I think most of us sometimes stop and wonder where they are now and how things would work out if they never left.

Thankfully for Rosie, she gets to find out. There are things she can finally discuss with Peter in order for both of them to move on and rekindle the magical love they once felt for each other. Rosie knows that Mike was the best man for her and her family and she knows that nobody could ever replace him, but with Peter, she is allowed to be that seventeen year old girl again – a girl with dreams, confidence and artistic spirit.

Sue Watson has managed to reflect family relationship exactly how I would imagine them. Rosie’s two very different daughters, her difficult relationship with her own mother and, of course, her beautiful relationship with her granddaughters. The author shows brilliantly how difficult it must be for an outsider to try and join into such a closed circle.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It’s an uplifting read, that makes you feel good about your own family ties and relationships and it actually felt like I was going through a therapy whilst reading this book.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for access to this book in return for this honest opinion.

My rating: 5/5