The Family Way by Tony Parsons

Synopsis:

It should be the most natural thing in the world. But in Tony Parsons’ latest bestseller, three couples discover that Mother Nature can be one hell of a bitch.

Paulo loves Jessica. He thinks that together they are complete – a family of two.
But Jessica can't be happy until she has a baby, and the baby stubbornly refuses to come. Can a man and a woman ever really be a family of two?

Megan doesn't love her boyfriend anymore. After a one-night stand with an Australian beach bum, she finds that even a trainee doctor can slip up on the family planning.
Should you bring a child into the world if you don't love its father?

Cat loves her life. After bringing up her two youngest sisters, all she craves is freedom. Her older boyfriend has done the family thing before and is in no rush to do it all again. But can a modern woman really find true happiness without ever being in the family way?

Three sisters. Three couples. Two pregnancies. Six men and women struggling with love, sex, fertility and the meaning of family.

Review:

Another brilliant book from my own collection. This has been on there for years and I remember actually getting this through BookMooch website, which I used alongside Read It Swap It.

I have never read books by Tony Parsons but I will do now. This is a very truthful, poignant story of three sisters, abandoned by their own mother and left in care of eldest sister Cat, who was only twelve at the time. It is a story of their own need for a family unit and realisation that their ideas of family might not be how life will eventually play out.

Cat has a successful job, older boyfriend who doesn’t want children. Meghan is in her last year of medicine before being qualified as a GP and Jessica is happily married and seems to have it all. Except the baby she is longing to bring into the world.

Their worlds and relationships start falling apart when Meghan finds out she is pregnant. After a one night stand. All three sisters find that they have some growing up to do, facing their past and looking into the future and what they want it to look like.

It’s a brilliant, real-life-like story and as a mum I found it very touching and emotional.

Rating: 5/5

Available from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

The Blackstone Key by Rose Melikan (Mary Finch #1)

Synopsis:

1795, and a young woman called Mary Finch travels in haste from Cambridge to the Suffolk coast. She has been invited to meet her wealthy uncle - and so end a twenty-year estrangement. But before she reaches her destination she discovers a dying man on the road. He is a stranger, and yet he is carrying an oddly familiar watch bearing her uncle's initials. He also seems to know who Mary is, and hints that she is in terrible danger.

His whispered warning soon exposes Mary to a ruthless conspiracy that threatens not only her family's reputation, but her very life. Far from home, Mary must learn quickly how to distinguish friend from foe. Can she trust the two men who want to help her?

What is their interest in the mysterious Blackstone Key? Does it guard a secret treasure, or might it have a more sinister purpose...?

The first in an exciting new mystery series, The Blackstone Key is a gripping and vivid historical adventure that will appeal to fans of such classic tales as Jamaica Inn.

Review:

This has been on my bookshelves for years as my physical books tent to be slightly forgotten whilst I get busy with e-books. However, I do still love holding a ‘proper’ book and the ability to turn pages and smell the paper. Therefore, I delved into my vast TBR collection and came out with The Blackstone Key.

This was a treat. First in a trilogy, but really stands out well as its own book. The main heroine, Miss Mary Finch, finds herself entangled in a spy and smuggler mystery well suited for the end of 18^th century Suffolk, when the French were at war and the threat of invasion was imminent.

Mary travels to Suffolk to finally meet her estranged uncle, when she comes upon a dying man. This one terrible incident sets into motion a whole lot of other mysterious events and brings together a group of unlikely characters. It is up to Mary to work out whom to trust – is it the poor Captain Holland or the dashing Mr Deprez.

This is a proper historical mystery, with great twists and turns. Characters are well defined and reader is left guessing the truth until the very end. Fabulous book.

Rating: 5/5

Available from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

The Diseased Ones by Danielle Harrington (The Hollis Timewire Series #1)

Synopsis:

Life is easy in 2647, unless you're a Diseased One...

On the morning of her 16th birthday, Hollis Timewire receives the worst possible news. She can't become a citizen of the world. She's a Diseased One.

Born with a biomarker that bestows dangerous, brain-altering powers, Hollis is forced to hide underground with other Diseased Ones, who believe that the government falsified history to cover up their genocide.

Now Hollis must discover the truth, and is willing to risk anything, including her powers, to go back home.

Review:

Fantastic book from start to finish. Brilliant way to get you hooked into a new series and leave you hanging and wanting more. I absolutely loved this book and hate the fact that I now need to wait for the second book – I need more now.

Although this is fantasy, young adult sort of book – this book can be enjoyed by the more mature audience too – it’s so well written. Characters are real and likable, you have the bad with the good, the weird and the normal with a little bit of romance thrown in.

Hollis Timewire thinks she knows who she is and where her life is leading to. Until she fails The Test. In one moment here whole life comes crushing down, she is overwhelmed by a power she never knew was inside her, it terrifies and excites her at the same time.

Now she has to learn the truth. Thankfully she finds that life does not need to be void of friendships and emotions and can be very fulfilling. Her journey isn’t easy but she is surrounded by like-minded people that only seem to want the best for her, she just needs to learn to trust.

I cannot wait to read more, especially given the huge cliff-hanger ending!

Thank you very much to TBConFB and the author for this book.

Rating: 5/5

Available from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US