No Empty Shelves Here: September 2020

Tuesday 8 September 2020

Only Human by Diane Chandler

Synopsis:

Tiger mum Anna, who gave up her career to build the perfect home life in London's leafy Chiswick, is shocked to the core when she discovers that her husband of 20 years is having an affair.

Her daughter meanwhile is transforming into a tricky teen chopping at the apron strings.

Then Jack walks into their lives. Sophie’s first boyfriend is a breath of fresh air for the whole family, and Anna gradually discovers new purpose for herself.

But when more deceit creeps in, tensions soar, and Anna is propelled through a tangled web of secrets and lies towards a devastating climax.

This tale of love & betrayal, by the winner of the 2016 People's Book Prize for Fiction and longlisted for The Guardian Not The Booker Prize 2020, is the perfect novel for you if you enjoy intelligent, elegantly-written, novels by authors like Jodi Picoult and Louise Doughty.

Review:

Perfect reading for the summer nights just gone. A proper family drama novel that you can get your teeth stuck into and enjoy every page.

Anna is indeed shocked to discover her husband’s affair and it forces her to question the quality of their relationship. Like many couples, their own relationship was unintentionally put onto the side burner, whilst they brought up their daughter Sophie. But now that Sophie is a proper teenager with a charming, first boyfriend, Anna must face the possibility of future alone.

Sophie’s boyfriend Jack seems to breathe fresh air into the family setting and to an outsider, the Bonds seems to be a very happy family. But cracks appear very quickly. I was annoyed with Anna and her own affair, it just seemed selfish to me and it made her lose sight of the important things in her live. But I did love her relationship with Fred and the way she took him under her wing.

This book covers that middle agreed issue of kids flying the nest and couples being forced to question their life together. It shows how fragile relationship can be if not looked after.

Thank you to the author and TBConFB.

Rating: 4/5

Available from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

This Side of Death by Andrew Barrett (CSI Eddie Collins #6)

Synopsis:

This Side of Death. When the past comes back to hunt you.

Alex Sheridan believes the only way she can be free of her demons is to kill the men in her life. She has a list, and Crime Scene Investigator Eddie Collins is on it.

Death misses Eddie by inches, and Alex is locked away in Juniper Hill high-security hospital.

Everything is fine for Eddie until one day four years later, when Alex escapes. This time she’s better prepared.

The week that follows ruptures Eddie’s life and shatters the belief he had in his own past, leaving him wondering what really happened, and facing one stark choice: who to kill and who to save.

This Side of Death is the most revealing CSI Eddie Collins novel to date. Prepare to see inside his past and understand what makes him the angriest, most feared, and yet most respected CSI in England.

Review:

You either love or hate Eddie. Either way, he wouldn’t really care. He prefers if people dislike him, as they talk to him less.

I love him. He is rude, uncompromising, doesn’t listen to anyone and seems to have fewer friends with each book in the series. Eddie is also bloody good at his job; and surprisingly under all that hardened outer shell, he also has a heart and that comes out in this book more than before.

I remember reading The Note (Eddie Collins novella) and wishing there was more. Andy delivered and did not disappoint. When Eddie finds out that Alex escaped her high security mental health hospital, leaving a trail of horrific murders, he knows his time is running out. He knows Alex will come for him; it is just a question of when and how. And when she does, well what a tornado.

This is my favourite Eddie Collins book. Main reason is that we get to know Eddie in a slightly different way. He cares. He sympathises. He doesn’t want Alex to suffer. After all she has done to him and his family, he feels sorry for her. This really humanises his character for me and makes this story believable. I cannot wait for another book, especially after that little twist that Andy has left us with at the end of This Side of Death.