Gill Sims is notably better at swearing than most other people. In fact she’s gifted. And it’s her ability to direct this gift towards the everyday trials of motherhood that makes us admire her, because we wish we could swear so effectively at and about children and husbands and life in general without feeling bad […]
Latest Reviews
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop
It’s 1963 and Charlotte is struggling with what looks, from this vantage, like severe post natal depression. You’d have to hope she’d get more help these days, but back then there was nothing. Charlotte and her husband decide to move to Australia but it gives her no joy either. This is a beautifully written book, […]
The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson
The breathless review by Yrsa Sigurdardottir on the front cover compelled me to nab this one quickly and devour it. Sigurdardottir, an Icelandic crime writer, produced one of my Top Five Thrillers, and any Icelandic crime novel she calls a masterpiece is good is enough for me. And sure enough The Darkness is a good […]
Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir
All credit to Weir- I knew what happened to Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, before beginning the book but nevertheless I wanted to read on and on. This is well written, compelling historical fiction. Jane comes across as less wimpy and insipid than in most other novels and there are times when she is […]
If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch
Poor Alex is stuck in a hospital bed, able to hear and feel all that’s going on around him while everyone believes he is in a persistent vegetative state. No one really tells him what’s going on but he learns he has fallen from a great height while rock climbing and is not expected to […]
The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard
Maybe a more appropriate title would be The Serial Killer’s Girl, as that’s what Alison’s former boyfriend is. Presumably. Ten years ago her boyfriend Will was sentenced to a very long prison sentence for the death of five young women attacked near a Dublin canal and left to drown. Alison was told Will confessed and […]
It’s Always the Husband by Michele Campbell
Top points for the title, but is it always the husband? When the murder victim is as irritating and self absorbed as Kate, it could be practically anyone. Her best friends from college, Aubrey and Jenny, each have powerful motives for murder, as do their respective husbands. The characters are mildly two dimensional and the writer […]
The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
The Perfect Mother is a step up from your average thriller, just begging to be made into a movie. A six week old baby with the unfortunate name of Midas goes missing while his mother is having a rare night out with her mother’s group. Molloy portrays the subsequent media storm perfectly, complete with scathing […]