Little Disasters - Sarah Vaughan

About the book… 

A new thought-provoking novel exploring the complexity of motherhood and all that connects and disconnects us.

You think you know her…but look a little closer.

She is a stay-at-home mother-of-three with boundless reserves of patience, energy, and love. After being friends for a decade, this is how Liz sees Jess.

Then one moment changes everything.

Dark thoughts and carefully guarded secrets surface—and Liz is left questioning everything she thought she knew about her friend, and about herself. The truth can’t come soon enough.

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About the author… 

Sarah Vaughan read English at Oxford and went on to be a journalist. After training with the Press Association, she worked for The Guardian for 11 years as a news reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent before leaving to freelance and write fiction. Her 3rd novel, Anatomy of a Scandal, was an instant international bestseller, a Sunday Times top five bestseller, a kindle number 1 bestseller, a Richard & Judy pick, and was longlisted for the Theakson's Old Peculier Crime Novel and shortlisted for awards in France, Sweden and the UK. It has been translated into 22 languages and is being adapted for TV. Her 4th novel, Little Disasters, will be published in France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the UK on April 2 and the US on August 18. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and two young children.

Contact Links: 

Author website: http://www.sarahvaughanauthor.com/
Twitter: @SVaughanAuthor

My thoughts…

An incredible heartfelt read Amazing!! Little Disasters is an incredible heartfelt read that is full of raw, emotional writing that won’t fail to tug at your heartstrings. At times it made for uncomfortable reading such was the emotive subject but I was compelled to read on, to get beneath the skin and lives of four friends, their husbands and children. Their lives intertwined so closely, yet each wrapped up in their own that sometimes it’s impossible for them to see what’s going on around them. The tug of loyalties between friends, family, ethics and values was the beating heart in this book as they each were pulled in different directions. It’s a book that will resonate with all mothers out there whose babies have a will of their own, who are not text book perfect in every way. For mothers who feel the need to portray swan like perfection but are paddling like mad below the surface. This was an emotional read that was compelling to read and held my attention right to the last sentence, I highly recommend it. Sarah Vaughan has created characters that are well rounded yet flawed, They fit together perfectly and as a reader I was thoroughly invested in each and every one of them. It’s a highly emotive read that gripped me and dragged me headlong into this heartfelt but often painful story, it shook my senses and Meade me question so many times - what would I do........ I am left feeling slightly bereft now it’s concluded but I’m happy that it didn’t have a cliched happy ever after ending for everyone - it never could when you’ve built a story on the stresses of real life and lay bare the fragile vulnerabilities that live in all of us at one time or another.

Little White Lies - Philippa East

About the book… 

She only looked away for a second…

Anne White only looked away for a second, but that’s all it took to lose sight of her young daughter.

But seven years later, Abigail is found.

And as Anne struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, she begins to question how much Abigail remembers about the day she disappeared…

Addictive, edge-of-your-seat dark women’s fiction perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, BCC drama Thirteen, and Emma Donoghue’s Room

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About the author… 

Philippa East grew up in Scotland before moving to Oxford and then London to train as a Clinical Psychologist.
A few years ago, Philippa left the NHS to set up her own part-time practice and dedicate more hours to writing. The result was her debut novel LITTLE WHITE LIES, published by HQ/HarperCollins in 2020.

Philippa now lives in the beautiful Lincolnshire countryside with her husband and cat. She loves reading (of course!) and long country walks, and she also performs in a local folk duo called The Miracle Cure. Alongside her writing, Philippa continues to work as a psychologist and therapist.

Her next book - another twisty and compelling tale - is due out in 2021.

Contact Links: 

You can find Philippa on Twitter: @philippa_east

My thoughts…

This was a gripping read that engaged from the very first chapter. It’s about an extended family that was hurtled into a yawning black hole when Abigail their daughter went missing aged 8 - leaving a cavernous hole in her extended families lives. Little White Lies explores the relationships within the family as they each try to get their lives back on track when Abigail is suddenly back home with them after turning up in a police station 7 years after going missing. Every page and chapter I read raised so many questions, I made suppositions and tried to second guess who was involved and why she went missing - each and every version I imagined was wrong, way off the mark!  My attention was held and never wavered as the story wound back and forth between Abigails home and her family to that of her aunt and uncles house - there is tension in both but why? She was clearly very close to her cousin Jess before she disappeared but that situation in itself brought so many questions of it’s own. Things just didn’t stack up. The author expertly wove this story, binding the fragile characters together so tightly that it was inevitable there would be devastation not if but when the ties broke. The Tension was palpable and the whole book saw me reading with an anxious feeling in my gut. It’s a desperately sad, yet completely compelling read that climaxed in a way that had my heart in my mouth.  I sat, my mouth gaping open; one hand on my kindle the other covering my mouth whilst I silently prayed with everything I had. This was a shocking, at times uncomfortable read that was gripping to the very last page. I highly recommend this book to all psychological thriller fans - Philippa East is an author I will have on pre-order for her next book due out in 2021.

Sunshine and Second Chances by Kim Nash

About the book… 

It’s never too late to be offered a second chance at life.

Debs is newly single, Fiona is caring for her mum, Samantha is grieving, and Liv has the perfect life – or so she’d like her friends to think…

This year, these four life-long friends are turning fifty, and Liv is determined they will honour their promise to each other – made on a beach at sunrise twenty-nine years before – to celebrate this milestone together.

And what better place than a gorgeous villa where they will be spoiled and enjoy the stunning beaches, picturesque fishing towns and glorious climate of the Algarve?

But time away from home doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. Sometimes it makes the thought of returning to your life too hard to bear. Especially with more than one gorgeous Portuguese man making hearts unexpectedly flutter...

It begins as a reunion in the sunshine, but little do the four friends know what life-changing decisions they’ll all be making before their flight home.

A heart-warming, feel-good summer read about friendship, love and second chances.

Buy Links:

Amazon.com: https://buff.ly/2TVbOpV

About the author… 

Kim Nash is an author of uplifting, funny, heartwarming, feel-good, romantic fiction.

She lives in Staffordshire with son Ollie and English Setter Roni, is Head of Publicity for Bookouture and is a book blogger at www.kimthebookworm.co.uk.

Kim won the Romantic Novelists Association's Media Star of the Year in 2016, which she still can't quite believe. She is now quite delighted to be a member of the RNA.

When she's not working or writing, Kim can be found walking her dog, reading, standing on the sidelines of a football pitch cheering on Ollie and binge watching box sets on the TV. She's also quite partial to a spa day and a gin and tonic (not at the same time!) Kim also runs a book club in Cannock, Staffs.

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https://www.kimthebookworm.co.uk/

Amazing Grace was her debut novel with Hera Books and came out in April 2019.

Escape to Giddywell Grange is Kim's second novel and was published in September 2019.

Sunshine and Second Chances is Kim's third novel and will be published on June 4th 2020.

Contact Links: 

You can read Kim's Blog here: www.kimthebookworm.co.uk

Connect with Kim on Social Media here:

Twitter: (@KimTheBookworm) https://twitter.com/KimTheBookworm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimTheBookWorm/

Instagram: @Kim_the_bookworm

My thoughts…

Sunshine and Second Chances is Kim Nash’s third novel and is an absolute lush of a book, it’s just lovely, lovely, lovely!

It was a story about four friends who pledged on a shared holiday celebrating their 21st birthdays that no matter what they were doing with their lives they’d meet up and do the same again for their 50th birthdays.

Olivia, Samantha, Debs and Fiona are living quite different lives and each of them are at a point when they need to step back to take stock, for different reasons they each need and dread this holiday in equal measures.  They arranged to meet in the airport in Faro, Portugal and when they do the last twenty nine years are stripped away as if they have never happened.  

I got to spend a week virtually eating, drinking and lazing in the sunshine with the girls as they unwound and relaxed, the tensions of their everyday lives unfurling out of them as they settled into the easy comradeship of long established friendships, sharing secrets, giving and taking advice and remembering what true friendship is all about.

This was a dream of a book, perfect for the lazy Sunday I spent reading in the unaccustomed sunshine in my back garden in England.  I could have quite quickly packed my case and joined them in a heartbeat - in fact I started looking at travel agents websites for villas in Portugal as soon as I closed the final page.

Kim has captured the very essence and importance of slowing down, giving and sharing quality time with friends.  Good friends truly are the best tonic anyone could have and Kim has captured that essence perfectly.  Her descriptions of the villa and surrounding towns are so vivid I could imagine walking out of my patio door and onto the terrace to join the ladies for a gin and tonic before dinner.  Or sitting in a pretty harbour eating at sunset - I’m smiling just writing this remembering!  I loved all of the characters and was thoroughly engaged with their stories and so wanted happy endings for them all.  

This is a perfect, feel good read that will will wrap itself around you and warm your heart.  I’ll defy any reader not to be trawling the travel brochures looking for holidays to Portugal after reading this and the next time I’m feeling a bit jaded or low because the skies are grey and I’m cooped up inside I’m going to take this book and re-read to lift my spirits.

Huge thanks Kim for writing such a belter of a book, I can see so much of you in this book, you really have put your heart and soul in it and I’m honoured to count you as one of my friends - we don’t get to see each other too often but when we do it’s like we saw each other yesterday.

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