The Year that Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly

Synopsis:

Three women celebrate their birthdays . . . 30. 40. 50. But their milestone birthdays mark the start of a year that will change everything . . .

Ginger isn't spending her 30th the way she would have planned. Tonight might be the first night of the rest of her life - or a total disaster.

Sam is finally pregnant after years of trying. When her waters break on the morning of her 40th birthday, she panics: forget labour, how is she going to be a mother?

Callie is celebrating her 50th at a big party in her Dublin home. Then a knock at the door mid-party turns her perfect life upside down . . .

Full of warmth and wisdom, this is a story about finding happiness on your own terms from international bestseller Cathy Kelly.

My review:

I have always loved Cathy Kelly. I find her books uplifting, relatable, full of great characters and her story-lines very realistic. And of course this book is Cathy at her best – please do not ever stop writing.

All three women have problems. Callie has been abandoned by her fraudulent husband; Sam’s new-born baby has left her feeling like a failure of a mother and poor ginger is completely thrown under the bus by her so-called best friend. Each woman is at a crossroad of her life and not a clue which direction to take.

It takes determination, support from friends and family and lots of brave decisions to bring their lives back on track. Their paths cross and they find new friendships blossom.

What a lovely book. And I also say the cover design is so pretty. Definitely something I would pick up from a shelf and it would catch my eye.

Thank you very much to the author and TBConFB for access to this book in return for this honest review.

My rating: 5/5

Available to purchase from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

The Eternity Road: The Return (The Eternity Road Trilogy #2) by Lana Melyan

Synopsis:

The Book is open, the Hunters’ powers are back, but Fray’s plan is back in motion as he gets away with the Book. To Eleanor’s surprise, nobody rushes after him. Instead, Samson lets Fray go and asks Eleanor to put her trust in him once more. Leaving the Hunters with the task of finding the transitioning vampires, he and Craig depart on a secret mission.

My review:

I’ve been looking forward to reading and it did not disappoint. Now I have to wait for the next book to be written and can’t wait to find out where the journey takes us.

It’s easy to read, well-kept story-line that keeps you turning the pages.  There are great, likable characters and we get to find out so much more about them most of them in this second instalment, especially about Riley and Ruben.

There is a great bond between the Hunters and they are happy to see Eleanor back to her old-self, although it takes some time getting used to having their powers back. However, not all is happy-go-lucky and the story goes a bit darker in this book. The vampires are causing havoc and death and the whole family is affected by their actions including the only human in the mix and Eleanor’s (Amanda’s) best friend Kimberley.

The hunt for the transitioning vampires is on and it doesn’t look good. Fray has century and half of experience in hiding from the other hunters and the advantage of knowing how they work and think. However, he does not have their bond and determination. This makes for an exciting game of cat and mouse and a very good read.

Not giving away too much but this book differs from the first quite a lot. The first book gave us a fab insight into the hunters’ history, where this second one focuses on the hunt and the now.

Thank you very much to the author and TBConFB for access to this book in return for this honest review.

My rating: 4/5

Available to purchase from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.

My review:

This book is a perfect mix of modern world and dark fairy tales that have somehow gone missing form our busy lives. If you look at the history of fairy tales most of them started out full of death and darkness and shadows and over time became the nice, good-wins-against-evil type that we know and love today.

The Hazel Wood goes back to those shadowy roots. Alice thinks she’s just a normal girl, growing up with bad luck following her and her mum Ella around. But when her mum gets kidnapped and a page from her estranged grandmother’s book of fairy tales is left behind as a message to Alice; things go from bad to worse pretty quickly.

Armed with the only nearly-friend she has, they set out on a dangerous road to find the Hazel Wood as Alice believes that’s where her mother was taken. But on this journey her whole world is turned up-side-down and Alice finds herself right in the middle of one those tales that her mother has tried so hard to keep from her.

It’s a fabulous, exciting book, with hints of magic and good old-fashioned Grimm-like tales.

Thank you very much to the author and NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 5/5

Available to purchase from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Thirteen (Psychic Surveys Companion Novel #2) by Shani Struthers

Synopsis:

Don’t leave me alone in the dark…

In 1977, Minch Point Lighthouse on Skye’s most westerly tip was suddenly abandoned by the keeper and his family – no reason ever found. In the decade that followed, it became a haunt for teenagers on the hunt for thrills. Playing Thirteen Ghost Stories, they’d light thirteen candles, blowing one out after every story told until only the darkness remained.

In 1987, following her success working on a case with Sussex Police, twenty-five-year-old psychic, Ness Patterson, is asked to investigate recent happenings at the lighthouse. Local teen, Ally Dunn, has suffered a breakdown following time spent there and is refusing to speak to anyone. Arriving at her destination on a stormy night, Ness gets a terrifying insight into what the girl experienced.

The case growing ever more sinister, Ness realises: some games should never be played.

My review:

Another brilliant book from Shani Struthers and how wonderful to find out more about Ness and her past. Thirteen is a brilliant book of fear, hope and light and once again had me on the edge of my seat willing the book to just go on and not finish. Also just to add that although this book is a second part in the Psychic Surveys series, it can be read as a standalone novel.

The book is based around an old lighthouse on Skye, that has been left by its last occupants to rot away in the harsh weather and darkness that surrounds it. It certainly has its own strange past, but that doesn’t stop teenagers taking refuge there and play a decades old game of thirteen ghost stories.

But it goes wrong and the last lot to play the game are affected by some sort of dark energy, that is slowly overtaking their lives. So here comes Ness, psychic girl, who on occasion helps Police find bodies of victims of violent crimes and someone with her own past still haunting her.

I can’t say anymore other than the fact that Ness soon learns that she must trust in herself and the people around her, as together they can create the light needed to banish even the darkest spirits hiding in the corners of the abandoned lighthouse. But it can come at a cost.

I am always excited to read one of Shani’s books and even more excited to write about it so thank you very much to TBConFB and Shani for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 5/5

Available to purchase from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US