BLOG TOUR: When I Close My Eyes - Jemma Wayne

 

For so many years it haunted. And in the end, all it took was a decision. One decision.

When an old friend reappears in her life, Hollywood screenwriter Lilith is forced to confront childhood demons that threaten to destroy the world she has created to keep herself – and others – safe.

Can she trust anyone?

Can she even trust herself?

What did I think?

When I Close My Eyes starts out as a bit of a slow burn but it heats up significantly in the final third and I couldn't read it fast enough.  It's beautifully written with some chapters being incredibly poetic in their length and carefully chosen wording.

It took me a little while to get into the book as Lilith is the type of person who keeps everyone at arms length so she is very difficult to get to know.  Once I got to know her, I really felt for her as she is haunted by her past and even her name.  Sensitively touching on the subjects of OCD and sleepwalking, I began to empathise with Lilith and even started to understand a little more about this debilitating condition.

While I was reading I kept wondering where the story was going to go but I could never have imagined the twists and turns it would take.  Jemma Wayne certainly has a few surprises in store for her readers in this hugely entertaining novel.

When I Close My Eyes is a beautifully written contemporary novel; it's sensitive, lyrical and surprising.  An absolute delight to read.

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

My rating:

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The Midnight Child - J.A. Baker

 

A long-ago trauma and a family mystery may shed light on her troubled sleep—or pull her into the darkness once and for all . . .

As a child, Grace Cooper suffered from bouts of sleepwalking. Now, after the unexpected death of her husband, she’s moved back to Woodburn cottage, her childhood home—and the sleepwalking returns. It’s all stirring up dark memories—memories that involve the disappearance of her brother Simon, who vanished one night when he was a child, and the death of her father, who fell from an upstairs window.

With her mother in a care home with dementia and her sister living in a nearby village, Grace tries to settle in—but with the passage of time, the sleepwalking only becomes more regular and the blurred memories of the past only become more disturbing. Spurred on by these hazy dreamlike recollections, Grace becomes determined to find out what happened to Simon that fateful night. But digging up the past isn’t always a good idea, because you never know what skeletons you might unearth . . .

What did I think?

I love J.A. Baker's writing; all her novels are outstanding but The Midnight Child is so magnificent that it completely blew me away.  It's a dark and disturbing storyline as sleepwalking and repressed memories are explored and you have to wonder how much you can really rely on your own memory.

The depth of character is stunning, with Grace Cooper being not only the main character but one of the few characters in the book.  Concentrating on one character in this way really allows the reader to get inside her head and follow her every move.  Grace was a sleepwalker as a child and her sleepwalking returns when she moves back into the family home, the home from which Grace's brother Simon mysteriously disappeared.  You can almost feel the secrets buried deep in the walls, just bursting to get out!  I certainly couldn't read fast enough to discover everything about Simon's disappearance.

I also have to mention Grace's mother who is suffering from dementia.  Although heartbreaking to read about this devastating condition, J. A. Baker writes so sensitively and honestly that I really must applaud her skill.  I can't even begin to imagine the effect that dementia has on the sufferer and their loved ones but I got a glimpse of it in this stunning book.

Ominous and tense, The Midnight Child is like a simmering pot, constantly threatening to boil over the minute you take your eyes off it.  I couldn't tear my eyes away from the page as I raced towards the absolutely breathtaking conclusion.  I can always rely on J.A. Baker to shock and surprise me and The Midnight Child did just that.  An outstanding and highly recommended novel.

I received a digital ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Monsters - Raphaela Weissman

Every evening, Annie and Paul Mayfield and their son Thomas sit together in the seething silence of their Brooklyn apartment, still haunted by the memory of the attack on the Twin Towers a year earlier. The nights are plagued by Thomas's vivid nightmares, Annie's unexplained sleepwalking, and Paul's growing paranoia as he fears the implications of their disquiet. 

At eight years old, Thomas is eerily serious, and oddly precocious. He also lives in fear- of his parents' unexplained behavior, the monsters he imagines hiding everywhere, and the uncertain world he inhabits in his own room. 

Monsters is a relentless portrait of a family on the brink of chaos, as they struggle to care for each other under the weight of fear.

What did I think?

I don't like to remember that awful day back in September 2001 but at the same time, I don't think we should forget it either.  Monsters refers to 9/11 but isn't about that day, rather about the effects of it on the people who have those flaming towers burned onto their retinas.

Thomas has nightmares about being in a plane crash and you don't need to be a psychologist to understand what event sowed the seeds for that nightmare.  His parents are barely functioning, certainly not with each other, in fact Thomas thinks they turn into monsters when his back is turned.  It is clear that Annie and Paul do love their son but their marriage is so fractured that it feels doomed to failure.

It's really interesting to see how the family interact with each other, especially in the wake of Annie's sleepwalking.  Paul hasn't just fallen out of love with his wife, he has become afraid of what she might do whilst in a fugue state.  Instead of helping Annie, Paul distances himself from her and daydreams about another woman filling her shoes.  Annie feels this distance between herself and Paul and easily transfers her feelings on to other men.  All the time, I was screaming: 'What about Thomas?'  They are so selfish, thinking about themselves instead of helping their son, it got me so mad.

Monsters is a bit of a slow-burner; I thought nothing much was happening but then I would suddenly experience an outpouring of emotion as feelings of anger/despair/concern/frustration burst out of me.  I think Monsters is a brilliant study of a fractured family who struggle to show any kind of emotion around each other, although I certainly felt a wealth of emotions whilst reading it.

An emotional piece of literary fiction, Monsters is such a compelling read that once started you will find hard to put down.

I read Monsters in instalments via The Pigeonhole and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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