The Last Anniversary - Liane Moriarty

Synopsis:

One abandoned baby. Two sisters with a secret. One chance to rewrite the past.

Over seventy years have passed since sisters Rose and Connie Doughty found an abandoned baby near their home on the island of Scribbly Gum. With no one to take care of it, Rose and Connie took the baby in as their own.

Since then the 'Munro Baby Mystery' has brought fame and fortune, putting Scribbly Gum on the tourist map, especially for the island's annual celebration.

But now, with Connie dead and outsider Sophie Honeywell about to move into her home, Rose begins to wonder if they made the right decision all those years ago. How much longer can they cover up the lie that has sustained their community for generations? And what other secrets are about to be revealed?

What did I think?

Scribbly Gum Island is such a fantastic name and I loved the little map at the beginning showing where everybody's house is.  I thought a family tree would have been useful as sometimes I had to stop to think who was who.

Unfortunately, the story was a little predictable - I solved the 'mystery' quite early on but the book was still worth reading as I became more interested in Grace's story rather than Enigma's (Enigma was the name given to the Munro baby).  Grace is Enigma's granddaughter and she's just given birth to Jake but she doesn't feel anything for him.  Her husband, Callum, is completely unaware of what Grace is going through.  Grace hatches a plan to pair Callum with Sophie (who inherited Connie's house) as she thinks Sophie will be a better mother to Jake than she is.  At one point, Grace is trying to surreptitiously plant this idea in Callum's head when she goes a bit too far and starts thinking "Retreat! Retreat!"  I laughed out loud at that.

Rose's story was also quite poignant.  Without her sister Connie, she feels simultaneously lost and free.  Connie always took charge of things and told Rose what to do, so I felt Rose spreading her creaky old wings a little.

My favourite part of the book was Grace telling her son that "Every day is gift.  Of course, sometimes it's a really horrible gift that you don't want."  This sums up life perfectly, if only we had the receipt we could take the gift back.

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Day Four - Sarah Lotz

"The trip of their dreams becomes the holiday of their nightmares"

The Beautiful Dreamer has been cruising for four days when it stops dead in the water.  There is no electricity and no phone signal so they can't call for help, but when they don't reach port everyone is sure that the rescue teams will come looking for them.

Then a body is found on board which means there's a murderer on board too!

As security try to keep the search for the murderer under wraps, the ageing psychic on board, Celine del Ray, without the surreptitious help of her assistant appears to receive real messages for people on board, including a message from the dead girl.

As the days go on, the toilets stop working and the food starts to run out.  You can feel the eerily stillness of the sea through the writing and the bubbling undercurrent of craziness about to settle in.  I could almost smell the stench in the description of the lower cabins where the toilets had backed up and soaked through the carpet.

I particularly liked the scenes with the psychic and the manifestations of her spirit guides.  I really felt like something evil had got onto the ship.  It was similar to The Three in that I didn't really know what to make of the ending, other than to draw my own conclusions about life after death, the Bermuda Triangle and conspiracy theories.  There are some links to The Three but you could read this a stand-alone book.  I absolutely loved the press cuttings at the end, in a similar vein to The Three, making you feel like you could be reading non-fiction.

I received this book from the publisher via Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review.

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