#BlogTour: Needlemouse by Jane O’Connor @JaneOConnor100 @EburyPublishing @TessHenderson1 @Tr4cyF3nt0n #Needlemouse

Book Synopsis:

Time to come out of hibernation…

Sylvia Penton has been hibernating for years, it’s no wonder she’s a little prickly…

Sylvia lives alone, dedicating herself to her job at the local university. On weekends, she helps out at a local hedgehog sanctuary because it gives her something to talk about on Mondays – and it makes people think she’s nicer than she is.

Only Sylvia has a secret: she’s been in love with her boss, Professor Lomax, for over a decade now, and she’s sure he’s just waiting for the right time to leave his wife. Meanwhile she stores every crumb of his affection and covertly makes trouble for anyone she feels gets in his way.

But when a bright new PhD candidate catches the Professor’s eye, Sylvia’s dreams of the fairy tale ending she has craved for so long, are soon in tatters, driving her to increasingly desperate measures and an uncertain future.

Sylvia might have been sleep walking through her life but things are about to change now she’s woken up…

A quirky, charming uplifting novel perfect for fans of Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Sarah Haywood’s The Cactus. The feelgood bestseller about unrequited love, loneliness and the redemptive qualities of hedgehogs featuring the most unlikely heroine of 2019.

Needlemouse is available in ebook now and in paperback on the 27th June. You can purchase or pre-order a copy of both using the link below.

My Review:

Needlemouse is a delightful, fun read featuring some fantastic characters. It’s quite a quirky read but a thoroughly enjoyable one about loneliness, love and finding yourself.

Sylvia was a very interesting character who I took a while to warm to as she seemed such a prickly character to begin with. She likes things done a certain, controlled way and doesn’t like it when things don’t go the way she wanted. Her infatuation with her boss was a bit cringy to read about at times and I found myself wondering how it would work out. I did like her slightly evil side though which often had me laughing out loud. How I wish I had the nerve to do similar things, and get away with it, to people that upset me! The other characters were equally great to read about and I loved how different they were to each other. My favourite character was Jonas as I loved his gentle manner and obvious love for his late wife. His memories of their time together was so lovely to read about and brought a tear to my eye.

The book is fairly fast paced as there is always lots happening that kept me glued to the page. The chapters are fairly short and told in a diary format which made me feel more involved in the story. I found I enjoyed going on the journey with Sylvia to discover her own life and the person she wanted to be.

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Tess from Ebury publishing for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Jane O’Connor is a former primary school teacher turned academic and writer. She was born and brought up in Surrey and lived in London until she moved to the West Midlands in her mid-thirties. Jane’s PhD was about child stars and she is now a Reader at Birmingham City University where she researches children’s experiences of celebrity, media and everyday life. Jane lives in Sutton Coldfield with her husband and two young sons in a house full of pirates, dinosaurs, superheroes and lots of books. She really likes all animals, especially hedgehogs. Needlemouse is her debut novel.