BLOG TOUR: Happy is the One - Katie Allen

What if halfway through your life was just the beginning?

Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life.

 

Born in 1986, when Halley’s Comet crossed the sky, he is destined to go out with it, when it returns in 2061. Until that day, he can’t die. He has proof.

 

With his future mapped out in minute detail, a lucrative but increasingly dull job in the City of London, and Gemma to share his life with, Robin has a plan to be remembered forever.

 

But when Robin’s sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel. Robin must return home to the tiny seaside town of Eastgate, learn to care for the man who never really cared for him, and face the childhood ghosts he fled decades ago.

 

Desperate to get his life back on schedule, he connects with fellow outsider Astrid. Brutally direct, sharp-witted and a professor at a nearby university, she’s unlike anyone he’s ever met. But Astrid is hiding something and someone from Robin.

And he’s hiding even more from her…

 

What did I think?

Oh my goodness, Katie Allen's new book, Happy is the One, is simply stunning.  I loved it from the very first page and my feelings continued to grow the more I read.

Robin knows when he's going to die as he was born during the appearance of Halley's Comet and he is destined to die when the comet returns, just like Mark Twain correctly predicted for his own death.  Now you would think that Robin would be able to live a full and happy life, knowing that his number is not coming up until he's 75, but instead he seems to be obsessed with planning every minute of his life until his death....whilst life passes him by.

It's a bit of a culture shock when Robin returns to his home town to live with his elderly dad and it is heartbreaking that his dad can't communicate verbally any more.  Robin's mum died when he was young and it seems that he was never close to his dad so it's a difficult time for both of them.  As they get to know each other again, things that Robin thought he knew are brought into question, including his inability to die until 2061.

The story is incredibly poignant and my heart ached at certain points as Katie Allen put me through the emotional wringer.  I love being so invested in a book that events make me gasp out loud and struggle to hold back my tears.  The writing is so warm and witty that there's sure to be something to smile or laugh about on the next page whilst my tears are drying.

Breathtaking, stunning and memorable, Happy is the One is a book with the biggest heart; it made me laugh, cry and everything in between and I simply can't recommend it highly enough.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

About the author:

Katie Allen was a journalist and columnist at Guardian and Observer, starting her career as a Reuters correspondent in Berlin and London. Her warmly funny, immensely moving literary debut novel, Everything Happens for a Reason, was based on her own devastating experience of stillbirth and was a number-one digital bestseller, with wide critical acclaim. Katie grew up in Warwickshire and now lives in South London with her family.

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BLOG TOUR: The Memory of Us - Dani Atkins

If you can't trust your head, can you trust your heart?

If she had been found moments later, Amelia's heart would have stopped and never recovered. Instead she was taken from the desolate beach to the nearest hospital just in time to save her life. When her sister Lexi arrives from New York, Amelia's heart is beating, but the accident has implanted a series of false memories. These memories revolve around a man named Sam, and a perfect love story that never existed.

Determined to help her sister, Lexi enlists the help of Nick, a local vet who bears a striking resemblance to Sam. Together, Lexi and Nick recreate and photograph Amelia's dream dates in the hopes of triggering her true memories.

But as love starts to stir between Lexi and Nick, they must navigate a complex web of emotions. How can Lexi fall for Amelia's dream man without hurting her sister?

Filled with breathtaking romance, heart-wrenching emotion, the magic of destiny and the power of sisterhood, The Memory of Us is a must-read for fans of Holly Miller and Colleen Hoover.

 

What did I think?

Dani Atkins is one of my favourite authors so I was delighted to get an invitation to join the blog tour for new noveI, The Memory of Us.  Oh my word, this beautiful book broke me into a million pieces and I didn't simply cry, I sobbed through the second half of it.  I had to put the book down on numerous occasions to dry my eyes or the book would've ended up in as soggy a mess as I was.

A phone call in the middle of the night is never good news and Lexi jumps on the first available plane home to visit her sister Amelia in hospital.  Amelia is lucky to be alive but she's not the same girl as she was before her accident; Amelia thinks that she has a husband called Sam but her family know that Sam doesn't exist.  

It's heartbreaking when Amelia looks to the door of her room every time she hears footsteps in the corridor but she is waiting for a man who will never appear.  Upset and frustrated by her family's doubts about Sam's existence, Amelia draws a picture of him and in a strange twist of fate Lexi meets Nick, who looks just like Amelia's drawing.

This book is filled with so much love that it bursts out of the pages and I absorbed every drop of it into my heart.  I cared about the characters so much that I couldn't contain my emotions and I was so riveted to the book that I kept trying to read even when my eyes were blurring with tears.

The Memory of Us is a beautiful and unforgettable multifaceted love story that is filled with emotion.  I simply adored it and I plan to read it again, although I'm sure I will still cry my eyes out at the same points of the story.  I really can't recommend it highly enough and make sure you have a box of tissues handy when you read it.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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Joe Faber and the Optimists - Gill Oliver

Inspired by the author’s experience as a caregiver. Fuel for the heart.

Joe Faber is a funny guy, good with his hands, and great with words – until the stroke which leaves him severely disabled. But this is more than his story. There’s Fran, Joe’s wife, who draws up her manifesto and decides to act like an optimist; she hasn’t planned to be a carer. Their talented daughter Jess, who turns her trouble into music. While Jess’s fiancé Matt, the management trainer, innocent, positive and daft, will do his best to keep them all on target.

Art School training made Joe a close observer of the world, but once he leaves hospital, how does the world see him? And care is erratic. So will Fran have to give up the job she loves? Can Matt’s energetic but insensitive sister be trusted to organise the wedding? There’s heartbreak and absurdity along the way; but humour is the family’s greatest asset in the drive to get Joe back on his own two feet. You’ll hear some wonderful fiddle music, and visit some magical Shetland places. Besides being fiercely honest about a tough subject, Gill Oliver's second novel is marked by a zest for life, and will surprise you right to the end.

What did I think?

I feel fortunate to be able to say that I have never encountered a stroke in my family, although I know about FAST (face, arms, speech and time) to remember the most common warning signs of a stroke.  Although one of the main characters in the book suffers a severe stroke, this is such a wonderful story of a warm and loving family, filled with positivity which of course you can guess from the title of the book.

Joe, Fran and Jess are a fantastic family of three and they are understandably devastated by Joe's stroke.  Jess has just got engaged so she's about to fly the nest which leaves Fran as the sole wage-earner.  I really felt for Fran as she was torn between leaving her job to care for Joe full time and leaving him in the hands of carers so she could earn a wage.  Fran decides that she and Jess could worry and wallow in self-pity or should could take the glass half full approach and be optimistic.  Of course they have their wobbles, but on the whole they embrace the optimistic approach and I could really see how much this helped Joe.

Rather than focus on Joe, Gill Oliver has written a story that encompasses the whole Faber family and we encounter some marvellous characters.  I loved the story about Jess being invited to play in the Shetland Folk Frenzy (it's a real event, google it!) and it really gave Joe something to aim towards, however ambitious the doctors thought it was.  Continuing the strong theme of family, Jess has an auntie and cousins on the isles and what colourful characters they are!  I wish I could say I loved all the characters but the parents of Jess's fiancé, Matt, are a nightmare.  I had to admire Fran's restraint on occasion.

Joe Faber and the Optimists is a wonderfully warm and hopeful story about how one family copes with a stroke.  The thing that really came through loud and clear for me is that although the person may look and sound different after a stroke, we need to remember that they're still the same funny, kind, intelligent, amiable or cantankerous (delete as appropriate) person that we love.

A thoroughly enjoyable read whether or not you've been affected by stroke, Joe Faber and the Optimists really ought to be recommended reading in stroke clinics around the world.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: The Desire Card - Lee Matthew Goldberg

It's time for some serious crime as I hop aboard the damppebbles blog tour for The Desire Card by Lee Matthew Goldberg.  I am releasing my review for the tour so read on to see what I thought.

Any wish fulfilled for the right price.  That's the promise the organization behind The Desire Card gives to its elite clients - but sometimes the price may be more menacing than anyone could ever imagine.

Harrison Stockton has lived an adult life of privilege and excess: a high-powered job on Wall Street fuels his fondness for alcohol and pills at the expense of a family he has no time for.  Quite suddenly all of this comes crashing to a halt when he loses his job and at the same time discovered he almost certainly has only months left to live.

Desperate, and with seemingly nowhere else left to turn, Harrison activates his Desire Card.  What follows is a gritty and gripping quest that takes him from New York City to the slums of Mumbai and forces him to take chances, and make decisions, he never thought he'd ever have to face.  When his moral descent threatens his wife and children, Harrison must decide whether to save himself at any cost, or do what's right and break his bargain with the mysterious group behind The Desire Card.


The Desire Card is a taut fast-paced thriller, from internationally acclaimed author Lee Matthew Goldberg, that explores what a man will do to survive when money isn't always enough to get everything he desires.

What did I think?

Harrison Stockton is such an odious character that I didn't think I was going to enjoy The Desire Card at first, but I am pleased to say that I couldn't have been more wrong!  I absolutely loved it!  It's the first book in a five book series and I can't wait to see where the story goes next.

Harrison is what you would definitely call a workaholic; he is married to his job and it's almost like his wife is the other woman.  When Harrison finds out the cause of his sickly pallor that caused him to lose his job, it was like a real wake-up call to me.   As the author reminds us: nobody ever lay on their deathbed and wished that they had worked more.  I have been guilty of putting work before my health in the past so I could completely understand Harrison putting off his health check in favour of work.  What is unforgivable though, is putting work before his children's school events.  There is no do-over; you can never get that time back and every time he missed a soccer game or a ballet recital he lost a little bit of his own children. What would he give for a second chance? Read The Desire Card to find out! 

I found The Desire Card so very thought-provoking, not only the work/life balance but the thought that money could buy you anything you desired.  How much would I pay to save my own life or the life of my loved ones?  How can you even put a value on that?  The company who run The Desire Card manage to attach a price to absolutely anything your heart desires.  It's not so much a case of rubbing the lamp and a genie pops out, as this magic really does come with a price..more often than not, in a six figure sum!  Yikes!

The Desire Card is a dark, gritty and disturbing It's A Wonderful Life for the 21st Century.  As greed for money, power and possessions fuel the world, money really can buy you anything.  It's such an outstanding fast-paced, dark and compelling modern-day thriller that I think it would translate effortlessly to the screen.  I'm already looking forward to the next book!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:
Fahrenheit Press
Amazon UK
Amazon US



About the author:

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels SLOW DOWN, THE MENTOR, and THE DESIRE CARD. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar.

The second book in the Desire Card series, PREY NO MORE, is forthcoming from Fahrenheit Press in 2019. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests.

After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series (guerrillalit.wordpress.com). He lives in New York City.


Follow him:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeeMatthewG
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leemgol
Website: http://www.leematthewgoldberg.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leematthewgoldberg/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lee-Matthew-Goldberg/e/B00RPF06TS/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

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This Beautiful Life - Katie Marsh

What happens when you get the second chance you never expected?

Abi is living her happy ending. She's in remission and is ready to make the most of her second chance at life. But during Abi's illness her family has fallen apart. Her husband John has made decisions that are about to come back to haunt him, while her teenage son Seb is battling with a secret of his own.

Set to the songs on Abi's survival playlist, this is the story of what happens next as Abi tries to rebuild her family. Can she bring the people she loves most in the world back together again... before it's too late?

This Beautiful Life is a deeply moving and poignant novel which reminds us why life, and love, are worth fighting for.

What did I think?

This book starts with a letter written by Abi to her husband John and son Seb, and I'm not ashamed to say it had me in floods of tears.  I readily admit that I usually cry at the end of books but to cry at the start was something new for me.  I was absolutely astounded at the level of raw emotion that has been poured into the opening pages of This Beautiful Life, but I dried my eyes and carried on as I knew from past experience that Katie Marsh had a beautiful story lined up for me.  

After dealing with the devastating news that she had colon cancer, Abi now gets the amazing news that she is in remission.  The future she thought she had lost is coming back into focus but a lot of things have changed whilst Abi has been ill.  Abi's husband John has gambled everything to help Abi get better and her son Seb is struggling with some powerful emotions of his own.  The past months have been all about Abi's cancer so as the three attempt to reconnect, it's the perfect time for honesty.  I knew they were strong enough to get through anything, although there are a few hairy moments!

Interspersed between chapters are songs from Abi's survival playlists; songs she has chosen for each of her loved ones with reasons why she has chosen them.  Abi has written in the sleeves of her CDs for her family and friends to find after she has gone.  Each note is so heartfelt that I both looked forward to it and dreaded it in equal measures, as I feared my tears would reappear at any moment.

It always astounds me how Katie Marsh manages to pour so much emotion into her books; her characters are so very realistic and they deal with real life situations with such poignancy and grace.  As I hurtled towards the end of the book, I prepared myself for whatever was coming and I have to say that, along with the whole book, the ending is absolutely flawless.

Katie Marsh is without doubt one of my favourite authors; the beauty in Katie's books is more than skin deep from the stunning covers to the beautiful words within.  Another poignant and outstanding novel from the pen of the super-talented Katie Marsh.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon