Tag: Reviews

#WWWWednesday – 8th June 2022

whatcathyreadnext5 Comments

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

The Death of RemembranceThe Death of Remembrance (DCI Daley #10) by Denzil Meyrick (ARC, Polygon)

Glasgow, 1983, and a beat constable walks away from a bar where he knows a crime is about to be committed. It is a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

In the present, an old fisherman is found dead by Kinloch’s shoreline and a stranger with a deadly mission moves into town.

As past and present collide, D.C.I. Jim Daleymust confront old friends, new foes and ghosts who will not be silenced.

Cover Image Seek The Singing FishSeek the Singing Fish by Roma Wells (eARC, epoque)

Growing up in the lagoon town of Batticaloa, a young girl, with an unquenchable curiosity and love of the natural world, is entangled in the trauma and turmoil of the Sri Lankan civil war.

Uprooted from everything she holds dear, tragedy and betrayal set in motion an unforgettable odyssey.

Torn from east to west, struggling with what it means to belong, she desperately seeks a way home to the land of the singing fish.

The Transfer Problem jacket coverThe Transfer Problem by Adam Saint (eARC, Deixis Press)

Ethan, an introverted banker with a traumatic past, falls in love with Anna, an enigmatic scientist with whom he shares an academic interest in the philosophy of existence and consciousness. But with the reappearance of Ethan’s rogue brother Robert – a hacker who is forbidden from using technology – the hypothetical turns all too real: Robert convinces Ethan to let Anna transfer a conscious mind into Ethan’s trading algorithms.

But when Anna’s experiment goes well – too well, in fact, with world-altering consequences – Ethan finds himself on the run, searching for answers to Anna’s mysterious past and looking desperately for a way to give humanity its future back.

The Transfer Problem asks what it means to exist, to be real, and to be human. But it also asks an even bigger question: how far would you go to avenge yourself?

Recently finished

The Fire Killer (DI Barton #5) by Ross Greenwood (Boldwood Books)

Villager by Tom Cox (Unbound)

How To Save a Life by Clare Swatman (Boldwood Books)

News of the Dead by James Robertson (Hamish Hamilton)

Deep in the mountains of north-east Scotland lies Glen Conach, a place of secrets and memories, fable and history. In particular, it holds the stories of three different eras, separated by centuries yet linked by location, by an ancient manuscript and by echoes that travel across time.

In ancient Pictland, the Christian hermit Conach contemplates God and nature, performs miracles and prepares himself for sacrifice. Long after his death, legends about him are set down by an unknown hand in the Book of Conach.

Generations later, in the early nineteenth century, self-promoting antiquarian Charles Kirkliston Gibb is drawn to the Glen, and into the big house at the heart of its fragile community.

In the present day, young Lachie whispers to Maja of a ghost he thinks he has seen. Reflecting on her long life, Maja believes him, for she is haunted by ghosts of her own. (Review to follow)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

The CompanionThe Companion by Lesley Thomson (ARC, Aria Fiction)

James Ritchie was looking forward to a boys’ day out with his son, Wilbur – even if he was a little late picking him up from the home of his ex-wife, Anna. Annoyed by his late arrival, and competing for their son’s attention, Anna leaves the two of them to their day with the promise of a roast dinner when Wilbur returns.

But Anna will never see her family again. That afternoon, James and Wilbur are found dead, the victims of a double stabbing on the beach.

DI Toni Kemp, of Sussex police, must unravel a case which has shocked the county to its core. What she discovers will lead her to Blacklock House, a grand country mansion, long ago converted into flats. Here in the middle of nowhere, where a peacock struts the lawn, and a fountain plays intermittently, seven long-term residents have seen more than they should.

But this is a community who are good at keeping secrets…

#BlogTour #BookReview How To Save a Life by Clare Swatman

whatcathyreadnext

How To Save A LifeI’m delighted to welcome you to the opening day of the blog tour for How To Save a Life by Clare Swatman which is published today. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Boldwood Books for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Sheri at My Reading Getaway and Jo at Captured on Film.

How To Save a LifeAbout the Book

One night in December, twenty-two year old Ted Green makes his way to Waterloo Bridge determined to end his life. Lonely, despairing and utterly hopeless, it seems the only choice to make.

That same night in December, Marianne Cooper is running away from a party. Having found her boyfriend in a passionate clinch with someone else, Marianne can’t get away fast enough. But as she makes her way along London’s South Bank, a figure catches her eye on top of the bridge.

Then she sees him, a man ready to jump.

When Marianne saves Ted’s life, this night in December becomes one they’ll never forget, but as Ted watches Marianne leave in a black taxi, all he can think is he should have asked her name.

In a story spanning twenty years, join Ted and Marianne as they navigate life’s twists and turns, joys and heartbreaks, while all the time wondering – will fate ever bring them together again…

Format: Paperback (328 pages)   Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: 8th June 2022 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find How To Save A Life on Goodreads

Purchase links
Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

In How To Save a Life, the author brings the same warmth, mix of light and dark moments, and gentle exploration of human flaws as she did to her previous book, Before We Grow Old, which I read in January 2022.

The book is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Marianne and Ted. Sometimes the reader gets to see the same event from their respective point of view, meaning some repetition is inevitable. It also means, at times, the reader can see an event coming.

Of the two characters, it was Ted who I thought had the most depth and whose story I became most invested in.  His traumatic experiences whilst on active service in Kuwait have left psychological wounds, a profound sense of guilt and a feeling that his life lacks any structure or direction. This has manifested itself in a dependence on alcohol. And, as much as Marianne’s actions on Waterloo Bridge on that fateful night saved his life, I thought the steadfastness and loyalty of his friend, Danny, did too.

Although Marianne and Ted’s initial meeting is fleeting, the significance of its circumstances provoke a change of life direction for them both: Marianne pursues a career as a counsellor and Ted studies to become a doctor. It’s significant that both roles entail helping others. Marianne and Ted both find themselves thinking about the other over the course of the years and during that time there are a number of ‘near misses’ in which their paths almost cross. Thinking of the film Casablanca, it’s not so much a case of ‘Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine’ as  ‘Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine… but I happen to have left five minutes ago’.

Despite the passing years, Ted and Marianne have become lodged so deep in each other’s mind that it becomes difficult for any other partner to displace them. I have to say I couldn’t blame those who try for eventually acting they way they do. After all, how can you compete with a fantasy? And I found it quite difficult to forgive some of Marianne’s and Ted’s actions.

Whether you consider the way the book ends the stuff of Hollywood movies, it demonstrates saving a life can occur in many ways and sometimes we don’t just get second chances but perhaps third, even fourth opportunities to get it right.

In three words: Tender, romantic, engaging

Try something similar: One Day in December by Shari Low

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Clare SwatmanAbout the Author

Clare Swatman is the author of three women’s fiction novels, published by Macmillan, which have been translated into over 20 languages. She has been a journalist for over twenty years, writing for Bella and Woman & Home amongst many other magazines. She lives in Hertfordshire.

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