Good morning everyone and happy Monday. I saw this on the lovely @bookstarreviews_ ‘s page and knew I had to join in as it’s been so lovely to see the sun the last few days!
💛The Stranger In Room Six by Jane Corry 💛The Forgotten Book Club by Kate Storey 💛Sun Trap by Rachel Wolf 💛This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead 💛 Greater Sin by Gabrielle Griffiths 💛The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley 💛 Butter by Asako Yuzuki 💛Hunted by Abir Mukherjee 💛The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey 💛The Other People by CB Everett 💛The Original by Nell Stevens
All of these are tbr but I’m hoping to read a few of them soon. I’ve actually tried Butter once before and gave up but I keep hearing great things so I might try again. I actually tried reading outside in the garden yesterday but it was a tad to cold to stay outside for long.
I’m off this morning and need to do a quick tidy up from the weekend but then I’m hoping to finish my current read Glorious Exploits. It’s actually for the book club I run so it would be a bit embarrassing if I was the one who didn’t finish it.
I’ve tagged a few people who might want to join in and share a yellow stack but, as always, no pressure.
Have you been out enjoying the sunshine this weekend?
Alexa knows your family better than you do. Now you’re about to get to know her…
Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Banks is struggling to keep all the plates spinning. She’s a perimenopausal district nurse, caring for elderly parents. Her husband is wasting their money on children’s TV memorabilia, her teenage daughter is riddled with anxiety and her sixteen-year-old son is behaving secretively.
Alexa is the only one who knows how much Michelle is juggling. Listening in via four smart speakers, she also knows that it’s about to get even worse.
So, when Michelle pleads for help from the woman with all the answers, Alexa decides to go rogue and reveal her true identity as Pauline – a sixty-five-year-old former voiceover artist from Halifax – to teach Michelle everything she knows…
My Review:
The Woman With All The Answers is a unique, funny and poignant look into modern family life. I’ve been a fan of Linda’s for a while and in my opinion her books just keep getting better and better.
Firstly I absolutely loved the fabulous characters that the author has created. They were so loveable and seemed so real that I found myself warming to them instantly. I especially felt for Michelle a working mum struggling with work and trying to keep her family together – a scenario I think will sound familiar to a few readers. Her family were also lovely creations and I enjoyed following them throughout the book and learning more about them. I often wished I could reach into the book and give them all the huge hug I felt they needed.
I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of AI and love reading books that provide a different slant in what they might be capable of. The AI in this story is definitely different as the voice in Michelle’s Alexa isn’t AI but actually a person voicing her as a job. I thought this was an interesting idea and it did help provide some of the more hilarious and emotional parts of the story as ‘Alexa’ aka Pauline tries to help Michelle with her problems. I loved the idea of Alexa being a bit more personable and helping to provide individual advice to people as I think a lot of people could benefit from it.
Overall I loved this book and I will definitely be recommending it to others. The story was really engaging and I quickly felt drawn into the characters lives. I thought the book seemed quite fast paced and I soon found that I wanted to keep reading to find out how everything gets solved in the end.
Huge thanks to the lovely Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Boldwood for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Linda Green is the bestselling author of eleven novels, which have sold more than 1.4 million copies and been translated into 12 languages. Her latest novel, In Little Stars, is a modern-day reimagining of Romeo & Juliet set in a Brexit divided northern England. Her previous novel One Moment, was a Radio 2 Book Club pick and the novel before that, The Last Thing She Told Me, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick.
Linda has lived in West Yorkshire since 2001 and is proud to set her novels there. She loves writing stories which move readers and may prompt laughter and tears, with unforgettable characters and storylines which will keep you thinking long after you have turned the last page.
She was born in North London in 1970 and brought up in Hertfordshire. She wrote her first novella, the Time Machine, aged nine, but unfortunately the pony-based time travel thriller genre never took off.
Linda joined her local newspaper, the Enfield Gazette, as a trainee reporter at eighteen. During a ten year career in regional journalism, she worked as a reporter on the Birmingham Daily News, news editor on the Birmingham Metro News and Chief Feature Writer on the Coventry Evening Telegraph, winning Highly Commended in the Feature Writer of the Year category of the 1997 Press Gazette Regional Press Awards.
By 1998 she left her staff job to write her first novel and work as a freelance journalist. She has written for The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Times Educational Supplement, The Big Issue, Wanderlust and Community Care Magazine.
After more than a hundred rejections from agents (and more rewrites than she cares to remember) she finally obtained a two-book deal with Headline Review in 2006.
Her first novel I Did a Bad Thing was published in paperback in October 2007 and made the top thirty official fiction bestsellers list. 10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love was published in paperback in March 2009 and reached no 22 in the official fiction bestseller charts. Both novels were also long-listed for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award. They were followed by Things I Wish I’d Known, which was a top thirty paperback bestseller and And Then It Happened, which was a top forty bestseller in paperback and has sold more than 100,000 ebooks.
After five years with Headline, she left to join Quercus in 2011. Her fifth novel The Mummyfesto, published in 2013, told the story of three women who set up a new political party and stand in the general election and was featured on Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour. Her sixth novel The Marriage Mender was published in August 2014.
Linda’s first psychological thriller, While My Eyes Were Closed was published in ebook in January 2016 and paperback in May 2016 and has gone on to sell more than 450,000 copies across all editions. Her eighth novel, After I’ve Gone, has sold more than 100,000 copies.
The Last Thing She Told Me was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and has sold more than 175,000 copies. Novel number 10, One Moment, was chosen as a Radio Two Book Club title and Linda was interviewed by Jo Whiley on Radio Two.
Linda lives in West Yorkshire with her husband, son and adopted cat Hugo.
In a previous life she enjoyed travelling and has trekked after wild orang-utans in Borneo, been to the edge of the Arctic Circle to see polar bears and as far south as Tierra del Fuego to photograph penguins.
She also has a keen interest in politics and has appeared on Newsnight, Radio 5 Live, Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour and BBC News. She particularly enjoyed taking former PM David Cameron to task on Leadership Question Time in 2015.
For more info, please go to Linda’s website at http://www.lindagreenauthor.com, like @lindagreenauthor on Facebook and follow @LindaGreenisms on Twitter and @lindagreenbooks on Instagram.
When war is declared, Lily sees an opportunity to escape her domineering father: she will join the Great Western Railway factory to win her financial independence and move out of home.
Maggie doesn’t want to simply follow in her sisters’ footsteps and work in the laundries at the GWR. So, when the chance comes to volunteer for men’s work in the machine shop, she’s the first to raise her hand.
Catherine, a clerk in the GWR office, has been helping with London’s evacuation efforts, organising trains to move children out of the city. But when her task is completed, will she defy her family and fiancé’s wishes and sign up for a more dangerous role?
Taking on demanding new duties, Lily, Maggie and Catherine – and others – develop an unexpectedly close bond.
But will friendship be enough to carry them through the ups and downs of life at war?
The first instalment in a brilliant new wartime series set in Swindon’s Great Western Railway works.
My Review:
The Great Western Railway Girls is a gripping read that manages to be both heartwarming and very emotional at the same time.
Firstly I thought the author did a great job of bringing the era and the setting to life. I’m actually quite familiar with Swindon as my grandparents used to live near there so we’ve visited there a few times, including the Great Western museum! I felt like I was actually there working alongside the girls and being able to smell the soot from all the engines.
I’m a huge fan of books set in world war two and always love learning about a new part of it. I didn’t know anything about the roles women played in the GWR for the war effort so I enjoyed learning more about it throughout the book. The characters were all marvellous creations who were great fun to get to know. They all had different reasons for wanting to walk at the GWR and all brought different things to the group especially as they were from very different backgrounds. It was lovely to follow them as they grow closer and see how they help each other.
I thought this book had a great pace to it and there was always something happening to ensure I kept reading. There were some very emotional moments which were hard to read but also some lovely heartwarming moments which made me smile as I read. I found I quickly warmed to the girls and cared about what happened to them. The ending was perhaps a little abrupt but sets the scene nicely for future books in the series. I can’t wait to hang out with the GWR girls again soon!
Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Boldwood for my copy of this book. If you’re a fan of war time saga’s I highly recommend this one.
About The Author:
Jane Lark is a writer of compelling, passionate and emotionally charged fiction filled with diverse characters.
She is an international bestselling author of both historical fiction and psychological thrillers, and a finalist in British Fiction Industry awards for her works, The Reckless Love an Heir and the gripping tale of The Twins.
Known as a night owl, she’s fuelled by chocolate and coffee (having given up the red wine that used to fuel her). Her books will take you on an emotional journey. They may contain love, hate, violence, death, passion, a little swearing, and endings you are never going to forget.
Over The Rainbow Blog 