#BlogTour: The House That Made Us by Alice Cavanagh @julietstories @simonschusterUK @BookMinxSJV #TheHouseThatMadeUs #AliceCavanagh

Book Synopsis:

One Day meets Up: The House That Made Us is a love story – and a life story – told through a series of photographs and inspired by a true story
 
When Mac and Marie marry and find a home of their own, Mac takes a snap of them outside their newbuild bungalow, the garden bare and the paint on the front door still wet. It becomes a tradition, this snap, and slowly the photographs build into an album of a fifty-year relationship.
 
Every year they take a photo and though things change around them – the garden matures, the fashions change, they grow older – the one constant is their love. Every year, come rain, come shine, from the Seventies through the decades, every photo tells the story of their love. But life never travels the path you expect it to, though they know that a life with love is a life lived to the full.

Now, in the present day, the photo album belongs to someone who doesn’t know the people in its pages. As they watch the lives from the past unfold, will the truth of their love story be told…?
 
A heart-breaking story about life and love for readers who love Holly Miller, Jojo Moyes and Hazel Prior.

My Review:

The House That Made Us is a beautiful, heartwarming read about love and life throughout the years.

The story is told from two points of view; one following an elderly lady in a nursing home who has found a photo album showing a couple posing in front of their house every year and one telling the story of Mac and Marie, the couple behind the photograph. Mac & Marie’s part is longer and I found it really intriguing to follow them throughout the years. The author gives the reader a fly on the wall glimpse into their lives and I felt very involved in all that happens to them. I liked that the story seemed realistic with the author describing sad events alongside the lighter, happier occasions. The later storyline, following the lady who had found the photo album, was intriguing as I was interested to see how it tied with Mac & Marie’s story.

Mac & Marie were wonderful characters that I just fell in love with. I loved how different the two of them were but how they managed to compliment each other, helping each other when they needed it. Marie is as strong as Mac is sensitive and this makes them such a wonderful couple to follow. I was absolutely cheering in some of the moments when Marie stands up for her or Mac’s dreams but crying with them at some of the emotional parts of the story too. Marie’s big, Irish family were also a joy to read about and I loved the madcap moments when they were all together. I especially liked the wonderful relationship Mac and his father in law had which often had me laughing out loud as they tried to stand up to their strong wives. They all started to seem like old friends and I was very sad to close the book and leave them behind.

Huge thanks to Sara-Jade from Simon and Schuster for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Alice Cavanagh was born in Fulham and still lives in London. She writes under a variety of names, including her real name, Bernadette Strachan, and as Juliet Ashton.