Women Like Us: A Memoir - Amanda Prowse

Amanda Prowse has built a bestselling career on the lives of fictional women. Now she turns the pen on her own life.

I guess the first question to ask is, what kind of woman am I? Well, you know those women who saunter into a room, immaculately coiffed and primped from head to toe?

If you look behind her, you’ll see me.

From her childhood, where there was no blueprint for success, to building a career as a bestselling novelist against all odds, Amanda Prowse explores what it means to be a woman in a world where popularity, slimness, beauty and youth are currency—and how she overcame all of that to forge her own path to happiness.

Sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious and always entirely relatable, Prowse details her early struggles with self-esteem and how she coped with the frustrating expectations others had of how she should live. Most poignantly, she delves into her toxic relationship with food, the hardest addiction she has ever known, and how she journeyed out the other side.

One of the most candid memoirs you’re ever likely to read, Women Like Us provides welcome insight into how it is possible—against the odds—to overcome insecurity, body consciousness and the ubiquitous imposter syndrome to find happiness and success, from a woman who’s done it all, and then some.

 

What did I think?

I adore Amanda Prowse novels but they never fail to make me cry and I thought I wouldn't need my tissues for her memoir, Women Like Us, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Yep, you got me again, Amanda!

Firstly, I really must applaud Amanda Prowse for sharing her intimate and personal story with us.  Now I know how she can write such heartbreaking and true to life stories as she draws from the wealth of feelings and emotions from her own experiences.  I felt incredibly honoured to read this true story and couldn't believe how much resonated with me; it was almost as if Amanda was talking directly to me through her book.

Much like her fictional novels that mirror real life, it's not all heartbreak in this memoir; it's often amusing and there are some tea spurting out of your nose laugh out loud moments - thanks to Amanda's Aunty Kit's advice for that one!  

The book is well named as I think everyone will see something of themselves in Amanda's story; I lost count of the amount of times I thought 'me too' when I was reading.  I can't believe how many trials and tribulations Amanda has gone through in her life and still remained as bubbly and positive as she is.  You just never know what's going on behind a person's smile; I love Amanda's beautiful smile, by the way.

This book also helped me with something I'm going through at the moment: the dreaded 'change'.  It was incredibly enlightening to read about her own experience of the menopause.  I expected hot flushes but I was really puzzled by the snaps of bone chilling coldness that I experience on occasion.  I didn't know the chilly willies was also hormone related, so it's nice to know I'm not going completely bonkers!

Women Like Us really is for all women like us.  It's beautifully written with humour and heartfelt emotion that I found incredibly moving.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful story, Amanda x

I received a gifted paperback for the LoveBooksTours readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: Dark Chaper - Winnie M Li

An astonishing and unique novel inspired by the author’s own story.

Vivian is a cosmopolitan Taiwanese-American tourist who often escapes her busy life in London through adventure and travel.

Johnny is a 15-year-old Irish teenager, living a neglected life on the margins of society.

On a bright spring afternoon in West Belfast, their paths collide during a horrifying act of violence.

In the aftermath, each is forced to confront the chain of events that led to the attack.

Inspired by true events, this is a story of the dark chapters and chance encounters that can irrevocably determine the shape of our lives.

What did I think?

If I could only write one sentence about this book it would be: Dark Chapter is a disturbing and compelling book but quite simply STUNNING!  I could no more tear my eyes from the page than I could forget to breathe.  As difficult as it was to read at times, it was quite impossible to stop reading.

Vivian has come to Belfast to see the sights, but gets more than she bargained for when she is raped; shocked and stunned, she reports the crime but as much courage as that took, she needs to call on greater strength to see it through.  Seeing the crime from both sides is shocking and surprising and I can't even begin to imagine what Winnie M Li has been through in order to call upon such emotions.

The Prologue of Dark Chapter sets the pace, where I felt sick with fear and my heart raced with the increasing tension as we hurtled towards the inevitable conclusion.  Although there are no chapters, which usually would annoy me, but in this case I barely blinked, I raced through the 5 parts of the book: part 1 the time leading up to the event, part 2 the aftermath, part 3 the arrest of Johnny, part 4 the trial and part 5 new beginnings.  What I found amazing, was that I didn't feel sorry for Vivian, I felt every emotion with her.  I felt as if the crime had been committed against my very own person and I was as MAD as hell.

Dark Chapter deserves every accolade that is coming its way, and I'm sure there will be many.  To write a book filled with such emotion showing both sides of a story is nothing short of exceptional.  As such abuse seems to be in the news recently, this is a book that is both very current and also very timeless.  Seeing the story from both sides is both mesmerising and jawdropping, making Dark Chapter an absolutely stunning work of fiction, with a disturbing ring of truth.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Anything You Do Say - Gillian McAllister

Gone Girl meets Sliding Doors in this edge-of-your-seat thriller

Joanna is an avoider. So far she has spent her adult life hiding bank statements and changing career aspirations weekly.

But then one night Joanna hears footsteps on the way home. Is she being followed? She is sure it's him; the man from the bar who wouldn't leave her alone. Hearing the steps speed up Joanna turns and pushes with all of her might, sending her pursuer tumbling down the steps and lying motionless on the floor.

Now Joanna has to do the thing she hates most - make a decision. Fight or flight? Truth or lie? Right or wrong?

What did I think?

Oh wow!  What Gillian McAllister has created here is nothing short of exceptional - two novels in one in only her second book!  I'm sure many an established author would shy away from such a challenge with the others wishing they had written it.

If I had to describe Joanna in one word it would be 'imaginative', so when she hears footsteps behind her after a night out she thinks it is the man she spurned in the bar.  As the footsteps get closer, Joanna reaches out and pushes her would-be attacker down the steps she is about to descend.  His momentum propels him forward at speed and he lies bent and broken at the bottom of the steps.  In that split second, Joanna must decide whether to run or call for help.  In a rare treat for readers, Gillian McAllister shows us the journey down both paths that Joanna will follow if she reveals or conceals her crime.

I thought it might get confusing with alternate 'reveal' and 'conceal' chapters but it really doesn't.  In conceal, Joanna is eaten up with guilt and her lie snowballs out of control and threatens to crush her under its weight like the boulder chasing Indiana Jones through the tunnel.  Even when Joanna reveals her crime she still can't help getting tangled up in a web of lies and her whole defence revolves around the one thing she is lying about: how long she hesitated before raising the alarm.

I do firmly believe that we have particular paths we are destined to follow in our lives.  Even though sometimes there may be a fork in the road or roadworks causing a diversion, we ultimately get back on the path we should be on.  Joanna's journey is just like this as whichever path she follows, reveal and conceal will merge together at the end but will leave very different casualties in their wake.

Anything You Do Say is such a thought-provoking and hugely entertaining book.  At her fork in the road, I felt Joanna's fear and truly believed that she was afraid for her life so I can completely understand why she lashed out like she did.  It's easy to say that you would rush to help an injured person, but would you be in such a rush if you thought that person meant to do you harm and may still be a danger to you?  It's hard to say how you would react in such circumstances; with that spike of adrenaline and a thudding heartbeat in your ears, what would you do?  This is the question that I'm sure every single reader of Anything You Do Say will ponder for many days, weeks, months and even years after reading this outstanding novel.

Oh you've upped the ante now, Gillian McAllister!  I'm not sure how you plan to follow this but I can't wait to find out.  You had me hooked with Everything But The Truth but Anything You Do Say is so extraordinary that it completely blew me away.  This book is going to be a HUGE success so make sure you pick up a copy and see what everyone is raving about.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Follow the tour:

Lillian on Life - Alison Jean Lester

Synopsis:

Lillian, a single, well-travelled woman of a certain age, wakes up next to her married lover and looks back at her life. It's not at all the life she expected. Walking the unpaved road between traditional and modern options for women, Lillian has grappled with parental disappointment, society's expectations and the vagaries of love and sex. As a narrator she's bold and witty, and her reflections - from 'On Getting to Sex' to 'On the Importance of Big Pockets' or 'On Leaving in Order to Stay' - reverberate originally and unpredictably.

In Lillian on Life, Alison Jean Lester has created a brutally honest portrait of a woman living through the post-war decades of change in Munich, Paris, London and New York. Her story resonates with the glamour and energy of those cities. Charming, sometimes heartbreaking, never a stereotype, Lillian is completely herself; her view of the world is unique. You won't soon forget her.

What did I think?

This was a really unusual book; I almost felt like I was reading Lillian's diary as we're privy to her innermost thoughts and observations.

I felt that Lillian has been unlucky in love and it takes her several failed relationships to finally realise what it is that she is looking for. Her Mother couldn't hide her disappointment that Lillian was 35 and unmarried, something that wouldn't get the bat of an eyelid these days.  Despite her judgemental Mother, Lillian has a loving and comfortable relationship with her Dad who she affectionately calls Poppa.

There are some wonderful lines and anecdotes in the book but I don't want to release any spoilers here!  Lillian is a smart modern lady who would not be out of place as a young woman in the 21st Century.  She was not afraid to travel the world at the end of the war, meeting new and interesting people along the way.

It's a book that made me laugh and also made me feel sad at times, a true observation of life with all its ups and downs. I absolutely whizzed through this book and it's a book I will pick up again and again to fully appreciate the wise words of Lillian.  

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

My rating:

Buy it from the Book Depository
Buy from Amazon