Tag: contemporary fiction

Blog Tour/Book Review: Tell Me Where You Are by Moira Forsyth

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Welcome to the final stop on the blog tour for Tell Me Where You Are by Moira Forsyth, recently reissued by Sandstone Press.  Thanks to Julia at Ruth Killick Publicity for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

Tell Me Where You AreAbout the Book

Maybe the worst thing hadn’t happened yet. You couldn’t know the awful things lined up in the future, looming.

The last thing Frances wants is a phone call from Alec, the husband who left her for her sister thirteen years ago. But Susan has disappeared, abandoning Alec and her daughter Kate, a surly teenager with an explosive secret. Reluctantly, Frances is drawn into her sister’s turbulent life.

Format: Paperback (352 pp.)    Publisher: Sandstone Press
Published: 15th May 2019  Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Tell Me Where You Are on Goodreads

My Review

Missing wife, mother, sister, daughter….in Tell Me Where You Are, Susan hovers just out of sight of the reader, ever present in one sense but physically absent.  The reader’s view of her must therefore be formed through the differing perceptions of others.  Is she victim, villain or simply a troubled soul?

Don’t expect resolving the mystery of her disappearance to be the focus of the book.  Instead it’s more about the impact of her disappearance on others.  As time goes on, the gap she’s left in the lives of others seems to contract as other events take centre stage and it appears history or (depending on your view) mistakes of the past and their consequences, may be repeating themselves.   It certainly made this reader question whether things would be improved or made worse by Susan’s return.

The author creates some really believable female characters, in particular Susan’s sisters, Frances (from whose point of view the reader observes most events) and Gillian.  I also really liked the relationship that forms between Frances and her niece, Kate, who is Susan’s daughter by a previous relationship and step-daughter of Alec, Frances’s ex-husband.  Yes, in this family, things can get complicated.  The daily minutiae of family life is also well evoked: who’s picking up who from the station, friend’s house, school or university; shopping trips; preparations for guests and family gatherings.

Tell Me Where You Are is an acutely-observed exploration of the often complex dynamics of family relationships, sibling rivalry, motherhood, the disruption that can be caused by things left unresolved and why sometimes the best thing is to look forward, not back.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Sandstone Press.

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In three words: Emotional, insightful, sensitive

Try something similar…The Last Day by Claire Dyer (read my review here)

Moira_Forsyth_2About the Author

Moira Forsyth grew up in Aberdeen, lived in England for nearly twenty years, and is now in the Highlands. She is the author of four previous novels and many short stories and poems published in anthologies and magazines. Waiting for Lindsay and David’s Sisters, originally published by Sceptre, are now available as e-books from Sandstone Press, which also published The Treacle Well in 2015.

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Blog Tour/Book Review: This Is Me by Shari Low

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I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for Shari Low’s latest book, This Is Me.   You can read my review below.  Thanks to Vicky at Aria for inviting me to participate in the tour and for my review copy.

ARIA_LOW_THIS IS ME_EAbout the Book

This is… Denise.

Married to Ray, her first and only love, Denise has never for one moment regretted putting the husband she idolised on a pedestal above everyone and everything else. But, after forty years of marriage, he is gone, leaving Denise to discover that their perfect marriage was fatally flawed. Now she faces a future alone, but first she must face the betrayals of the past.

This is… Claire.

The estranged daughter of Denise, the woman who put her husband before her children, Claire took the opposite path and devoted her life to raising her family, sacrificing her marriage along the way. With her teenage sons about to flee the nest, she realises she may have left it too late to find her own happy ever after.

This is the story of two women, both alone, both cautionary tales of one of motherhood’s biggest decisions.

Who is more important, your partner or your children? And what happens if you make the wrong choice?

Format: ebook, paperback (372 pp.)    Publisher: Aria Fiction
Published: 2nd May 2019    Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com | Kobo
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find This Is Me on Goodreads

My Review

The prologue reveals one death provoking two very different reactions from mother and daughter, Denise and Claire. The reasons why, and for their estrangement, will become apparent over the course of the book through a series of flashbacks.

Some characters from Shari Low’s book, One Day in December, make a return appearance in This Is Me and there are brief references to events in the earlier book. I particularly enjoyed becoming reacquainted with the irrepressible Val and Josie – all wine, wisecracks and wisdom. They, along with her best friend Jeanna, form part of Claire’s support network as she struggles with her ’empty nest’ feelings now her two sons have left home. Her friends also provide the pretext for Claire’s reminiscences about her troubled relationship with her mother and father, her first meeting with future but now ex-husband, Sam, and their early years together. Along the way, Claire learns a few unexpected secrets as well!

Denise has no such support network meaning, although I found her life decisions and choices a challenge to comprehend, I could sympathize with the lonely situation she finds herself in and her despair at the things she discovers.

There was one character in the book I definitely could not sympathize with; in fact, who I loathed with a vengeance. Selfish, manipulative and deceitful, I simply couldn’t understand how a person could inspire such devotion. On the other hand, Claire’s ex-husband Sam, seemed a positive paragon.

The book presents the choice the two women make – between putting their children or their partner first – in pretty black and white terms. I’d like to hope in real life there are shades in between.

This Is Me is an engaging, emotional story about motherhood, relationships and the choices we often face in our personal lives. In some respects a cautionary tale, it’s also a celebration of female friendship and the possibility of new beginnings and, just maybe, second chances.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, Aria, and NetGalley.

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In three words: Heartfelt, emotional, engaging

Try something similar…One Day in December by Shari Low (read my review here)

ShariLowAbout the Author

Shari Low is the No.1 best-selling author of over 20 novels, including One Day In December, A Life Without You, The Story Of Our Life, With Or Without You and Another Day In Winter. And because she likes to over-share toe-curling moments and hapless disasters, she is also the shameless mother behind a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So.

Once upon a time she met a guy, got engaged after a week, and twenty-something years later she lives near Glasgow with her husband, a labradoodle, and two teenagers who think she’s fairly embarrassing except when they need a lift.

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