The Unmumsy Mum Diary by Sarah Turner

 

She's back! The Unmumsy Mum has put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard!) once more to bring you the next instalment of her life as mum to two young boys, documenting motherhood exactly as she finds it. Her words have made mums, dads and grandparents everywhere laugh and cry in equal measure. 

In The Unmumsy Mum Diary Sarah shares with us a year in her life as a mum, wife, blogger and bestselling author. With her trademark candour and wit, she documents the good days and the bad days, the giggles and the tantrums. She'll also share poignant, life-changing moments from her year, such as her older son heading off through the school gates for the first time.

The Unmumsy Mum Diary is as honest as it is hilarious and a peek into Sarah's innermost thoughts will leave you in no doubt that, on those days when you feel you are not quite cut out for the job, you are most definitely not alone

So I’ve not listened to Sarah’s podcast, or read any of her books before, so listening to this was new to me. It was hilarious. Sarah sounds great, shes a brilliant mum (we all are), and sounds like an absolute hoot. I loved listening to this and hearing her stories of life over a year, and I related to a lot of the mum stuff. I laughed quite a bit along with this one at the funny stuff, and felt solidarity with her during the hard times. A good read (or listen), I’ll be reading her other books.

The Puppet Master by Sam Holland

 

He watches your every move

We’ve all experienced it. That creeping sensation of eyes on your back, the faint echo of footsteps following yours.

He controls you

Across the country, a madman is carefully choosing his victims. Once he has you in his sights, he won’t let go.

He will make you pay

You think you’re in control of your own life? Think again. Because The Puppet Master is coming for you, and he won’t stop until you’re dead…

Thanks so much to Instabooktours, SandS, and Sam Holland for letting me be on the tour for The Puppet Master!!!! 

So I freaking loved Sam’s first two books, and while The Echo Man will always be my favourite, The Puppet Master was amazing. I was gripped from the get go, wondering what kind of person Cara would be dealing with this time. Turns out, she has another time of it, and has to deal with a lot of bodies, and another crazed killer on the loose. 

The Puppet Master was brilliantly written, had some great twists along the way, and Griffin is still there, which brightened my day right up! 

Thanks again to Instabooktours and SS for my copy of the book, and of course Sam Holland for keeping me so entertained with her brilliant stories!!

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

 

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could

ever hope for. 

She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her

dad's finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms.

Rothschild; and Margot's coming home for the summer just in time

for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon.

And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan

her father's wedding, she can't ignore the big life decisions she

has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college

and what that means for her relationship with Peter.

She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains.

Now Lara Jean's the one who'll be graduating high school and leaving

for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy

she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different

things, which one should you listen to?

I’m so glad I read this series. I watched the movies before reading them, and I’m kind of glad I did, I can only see Noah as Peter.

So this is the final installment in the To All The Boys trilogy, and it was just a good as the others. I love LJ and Peter, the two main characters are totaly my favourites/ But I like all of the side characters too. Kitty and Margot (fab as usual, Jenny Han should really write books about Kitty, the Netflix show XO Kitty is really good), LJs Dad and Trina, John Ambrose, and Chris.

I love LJ and PKs relationship, I’ve been on their side the whole time, and loved reading how it played out in the end. I’ll treasure my physical copies of these, I can see these being comfort re-reads.

Escape by L.A Davenport

 

Why am I still alive? That is the question John, a trauma doctor, asks himself over and over as he mourns the death of his wife. Lost and alone, he wanders the streets of a glamorous Mediterranean resort trying to escape the pain. He drifts from bar to bar until he meets Jasna, a captivating hostess. She teases him out of his suffering and, against their better judgement, they fall in love. Then tragedy strikes, and John is pitched into a ruthless world of drugs, prostitution and murder, where life is cheap and nothing is as it seems. In this all-new edition, Escape, The Hunter Cut takes the classic tale of L.A. Davenport's debut novel Escape and retells it through John's eyes, as he battles with himself and the events that threaten to overwhelm him.

Thanks so much to Heather Fitt, P Wave Press, and LA Davenport for asking me to be on the tour for this!

I enjoyed Escape: The Hunter Cut, I wasn’t sure where it was going at first, but it all becomes clear. I liked how short the chapters are, it meant I could sneak one or two in while I had a couple of minutes. I’ve not read the original book Escape, but I don’t think that took anything away from this one.

I liked John, I felt bad for him about his wife dying. And when he met Jasna I was happy. Unfortunately the happiness is short lived as things turn badly quite quick, and a lot of dodgy stuff goes on.

Thanks again to Heather, P Wave Press and LA Davenport for letting me be on the tour!! 

Not My Fathers Son by Alan Cumming

A beloved star of stage and screen, Alan Cumming's life and career have been shaped by a complex and dark family past - full of troubled memories, kept buried away. But then an unexpected phone call from his long-estranged father brought the pain of the past hurtling back into the present, and unravelled everything he thought he knew about himself. Not My Father's Son is the story of his journey of discovery, both a memoir of his childhood in Scotland, and an investigation into his family history which would change him forever.

Right, we all know and love Alan Cumming right? Well now I love him even more. I listened to this on Audiobook and I’m so glad I did. 

Alan was asked to be on ‘Who Do you Think You Are’, the TV show where they help trace your family history. I don’t think he knew what he was letting himself in for when he signed up bless him. My heart broke for him in so many places, I was waiting for him to get answers , and was waiting for the phonecall between him and his father. It was full of shocks and surprises too, you’ll know what I mean if you’ve read it.

I liked listening to him talk about his heritage, his ancestors, and his mum. He’s funny, seems kind, and is very much loved. Brilliant guy, and a great listen.

Small Hours by Bobby Palmer

 

If you stood before sunrise in this wild old place, looking through the trees into the garden, here's what you'd see:

A father and son, a fox standing between them.

Jack, home for the first time in years, still determined to be the opposite of his father.

Gerry, who would rather talk to animals than the angry man back under his roof.

Everything that follows is because of the fox, and because Jack's mother is missing. It spans generations of big dreams and lost time, unexpected connections and things falling apart, great wide worlds and the moments that define us.

If you met them in the small hours, you'd begin to piece together their story.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley and the publisher Headline in return for an honest review.

Bobby Palmer writes with such beauty, it’s almost lyrical. I love the way he writes, which is what tipped me to a 4 star from a 3.5.

I think I was expecting to enjoy this more than I did, as I absolutely fell in love with Isaac and The Egg. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, I did, but the parts I loved the most were Gerry’s pov chapters. Again, I loved the way Bobby wrote from his pov, the words seemed to just flow across the pages (or screen in my case). 

I remember early in in the book, thinking I don’t understand what’s going on here. But if you’ve read Isaac, you’ll know this is Bobby's style, and by the end it just all clicks into place.

I’ll definitely read more of Bobby’s work in the future, he writes like no one else I’ve ever read before.

Thanks again to Headline and Netgalkey for my arc, and thanks to Bobby Palmer for sharing his beautiful writing with us all