Make Yourself at Home by Ciara Geraghty

404 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Blurb

 It’s the last place she wants to be. It’s the only place left to go

When Marianne’s carefully constructed life and marriage fall apart, she is forced to return to Ancaire, the ramshackle seaside house perched high on a cliff by the Irish Sea. There she must rebuild her relationship with her mother, Rita, a flamboyant artist and recovering alcoholic who lives by her own rules.

Marianne left home when she was fifteen following a traumatic and tragic incident. She never planned to return, and now she has to face the fact that some plans don’t work out the way you wanted them to. But she might just discover that, sometimes, you have to come to terms with the story of your past before you can work out the shape of the future…

Set on the wild Irish coast, with an unforgettable cast of characters, this deeply emotional novel is full of Ciara Geraghty’s trademark heart and poignancy.

Review

Having read and enjoyed Ciara Geraghty’s books in the past, I went into this story fully expecting to love it too. I was not prepared for how much Marianne’s tale would capture me, keep me enthralled, and make me think.

On the surface, this is the story about a woman coming to terms with the unexpected demise of her marriage and the troubled relationship with her mother, and that would have made an interesting story.

Scratch that surface just a little, and you’ll find so much more. Marianne put her feelings on hold when she was a teenager. From that moment forward her decisions have been based on practical considerations rather than emotions. It was safe and, for some time, her distant approach to life and connections worked. She seemed to have it all: a practical husband who appeared to be as eager as she was to keep emotions at bay, a good and safe job, a beautiful house, furnished to her exact and unexciting standards. She’s created an environment in which she can pretend she is fine, her life is good, and the past is an ugly but distant memory.

When her house of cards falls apart, Marianne crumbles too. With all her securities torn away she has no choice but to return to the past, the house, and the mother, she’s avoided for more than half her life.

Going home for Marianne is like returning to the setting of a nightmare. Back at Ancaire (Anker—such an appropriate name), Marianne doesn’t try to be nice or take care of herself. She resents others trying to take care of her and puts as much distance between herself and her mother’s life as she can, given they’re sharing a house and her mother’s full-on approach to life.

Between Rita’s joie de vivre, the mixed bag of characters that make up Rita’s group of recovering alcoholics, and a persistent dog, Marianne appears to be coming back from the brink. Almost against her wishes, Marianne finds herself getting involved with causes and interested in people again. Until a shocking discovery throws her back to what appears to be square one.

This story packs a punch, yet it is written so well and so smoothly that the reader could almost miss that rather than an angry and selfish woman, Marianne is a lost soul who has struggled with depression ever since she was fifteen—for so long, in fact, that she doesn’t recognise her actions and reactions as a mental health issue.

For a very long time, Marianne reads as an unsympathetic main character whereas her mother appears to be a bundle of joy. And that’s where the beauty of this story comes fully to light. Because nothing is that simple and, just as Marianne is pulled out of her self-isolation almost against her wishes and in barely perceptible steps, I was surprised to find myself first sympathising with her and then understanding her actions and thoughts. This story and the characters in it are real and raw. They crawled their way under my skin. I wasn’t just interested in how their story might end, I was invested in their journey and its outcome.

I love that the book didn’t end on miracles. Instead, we’re given a scattering of possibilities, glimmers of hope, and potential futures. And while the above may make you think that Make Yourself at Home is a heavy and possibly depressing read, the opposite is through. Marianne’s darkest moments are balanced by the very mixed and mostly unfiltered company she keeps. For every painful experience, there is at least one laugh-out-loud moment. And Marianne’s journey is not only beautiful to behold but inspirational too.

Long story short: Make Yourself at Home is an amazing read. It will make you think and feel, but most of all, it will ultimately lift you up and leave you with a satisfied smile on your face. This book is exactly what I needed to fight my 18-month long reading slump.

The Island Girls (A Heartbreaking Historical Novel) by Noelle Harrison

313 pages

Publisher: Bookouture

Buy Links: Amazon | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play

Blurb

I guess our life on the island was one which never fit you right. I like to imagine you some days when I look out the window across the harbour, all those miles of sea and land between us. But, sister, we are always connected.

When young nurse Emer loses her beloved sister, she is haunted by grief and desperate to escape her memories. Taking a job in Vinalhaven, a rocky outpost in the wild Atlantic, feels like the refuge she so badly needs.

Her patient, Susannah, has lived in isolation for many years, since the tragic death of her sister Kate caused her to withdraw from island life. However, when Emer discovers a bundle of letters in a rainbow quilt in her bedroom and shares the story of her own loss, Susannah opens up. She begins to tell the story of Kate’s brutal and secret past, and her marriage to a man with a heart as cold as the ocean.

But when Emer starts asking locals about Kate, the island air sizzles with hostility. There are people who would rather that Susannah kept quiet, who have no qualms about threatening Emer. But despite the warnings to stay away, Emer is determined to find out what really happened the night Kate died – and the final secret that is keeping Susannah a prisoner to the past.

Review

Everything Noelle Harrison has ever written has hit me in the feels…hard. The Island Girls is no exception to that rule. In fact, this story is laden with love and loyalty but also with pain, loss, grief, and guilt. And every single emotion is so easy to related to it’s impossible to read this book without having your heart both broken and restored. 

As the blurb describes, The Island Girls tells the parallel stories of two women who, more than a generation apart have their lives turned upside down by the loss of their dearly beloved sister. It’s a story about the things we do for love, the sacrifices we are willing to make for those who are dear to us, and the often high price we have to pay for loving with all our hearts.

There are many parallels between the Susannah and Emer’s story; the depth of the love for their sister being the main similarity, but not the only one. Caring for Susannah is both Emer’s attempt to redeem herself after she’s made what she considers an unforgivable mistake, and a form of refuge. Travelling to Vinalhaven is Emer’s attempt to get away from everything and everybody, including the man she loves, who remind her of how she’s failed Orla, her sister.

Susannah’s continued presence on Vinalhaven is a similar form of self-punishment. Her reasons for staying (as revealed very late in the book, so I won’t mention them) are no longer valid, but she’s sacrificed too much for too long and has given up on any hope of getting back all she lost.

Learning Susannah’s back story is Emer’s opportunity to find her way back to herself, to salvage her life and herself, if she’s willing to see, listen, and learn the lessons. The question whether or not Emer will be able to put herself back together is as tension-filled as the slow but relentless unfolding of Susannah’s history.

As always, Noelle Harrison has created a glorious novel. Her sentences evoke images and emotions. She paints vivid pictures with her words, be it of the landscape the story takes place in or the emotions motivating the characters. It is impossible not to get taken in by Emer and Susannah. Their heartbreak, their loyalty, and even their stubborn refusal to put reality ahead of their feelings, all bleed off the page, into the reader. It left me wanting to slap both women almost as much as I wanted to hug them and tell them ‘it’ wasn’t their fault.

Ultimately this is a story about love, about loyalty, and about learning to live with the fact that sometimes love and loyalty aren’t enough to combat the very real horrors of life. The Island Girls is a heart-breaking yet glorious and ultimately uplifting story that will stay with me for some time to come. This is not the first time I whole-heartedly recommend a story by Noelle Harrison, and I’ve got a feeling it won’t be the last either.

Truth & Betrayal by K.C. Wells - Release Day Review

403 Kindle Pages

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Available in KU

Blurb

All the light went out of Jake’s life when his older brother Caleb died in a traffic accident. Getting through the aftermath was always going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, but finding out that the tall stranger at the graveside was the one driving the car? At least Jake now has a target for all the rage inside him. Because the man responsible for stealing Caleb’s light from the world has no right to intrude on their grief. 

Liam had known deep down that it was a mistake to go to Tennessee, but he’d hoped saying goodbye to Caleb would ease the pain inside him. The hostile reception from Caleb’s family and friends comes as no surprise, and Liam flees before things get ugly. They obviously know nothing of Caleb’s life in Atlanta, and maybe it’s better that way. Caleb’s secrets can die with him. 

When Jake turns up at Caleb’s apartment to collect his brother’s possessions, what he discovers is the first shock in what is to be a series of revelations, turning Jake’s world upside down. New knowledge brings fresh pain and anguish. 

Jake isn’t the only one who’s hurting… 

Review

I have a problem. As some of you may have noticed, I’m a huge fan of K.C. Wells’ stories. All of them. Be they self-published, co-written, or under a different pseudonym, I’ve so far loved every single word from her. So what does a reviewer do when an author who almost invariably ends up with a five star rating, writes a book that surpasses everything she’s produced in the past? I can’t speak for anybody else but in my case it will probably lead to a lot of fan-girling, the over-use of superlatives, and plenty of nonsensical gushing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Whereas most romances start of light and easy, giving the reader a (more often than not) false sense of security, only to bring them to tears and heartache sometime after the midway point, Truth & Betrayal threw me straight into the deep end where I feared I might drown in the tears caused by Jake’s pain.

Losing his Caleb, his only brother was bad enough. The fact that he never got to share a closely held secret with the older brother he adored, makes Jake’s grief even more heart-wrenching. Coming face to face with the man who drove the car in which Caleb died during his brother’s funeral, is more than Jake can take and he lashes out.

When Jake meets Liam again he soon discovers that he was an important part of Caleb’s life. It turns out that Jake wasn’t the only one with a secret he kept close to his chest. If Jake wants to learn more about his brother and the secret life he led, he’ll have to talk to Liam. Fortunately, Liam turns out to be a nice person who doesn’t hold Jake’s outburst against him and is happy to share information with Luke.

What starts as a quest for information soon turns into a developing friendship between Liam and Jake; a friendship that awakens unexpected feelings in both of them.

And so we venture into a developing romance without easy answers. Both men have to come to terms with the loss they suffered and the guilt falling for each other engenders. Jake has to face issues associated with being gay in a community where most would condemn him for his feelings and even his own family might abandon him. And then there’s the fact that Liam is black and Jake lives in a town were race relations are strained, at best. K.C. Wells deals with all of these in an honest yet sensitive manner. She doesn’t gloss over the problems they face but neither does she overstate them. I’m in awe of the way she managed to insert sometimes brutal realism into her story without ever making it harsher to prove a point. Here is a writer who knows there is no need to exaggerate because the plain truth is more than bleak enough.

And while I’m on the subject of realism; it doesn’t end with the issues Liam and Jake have to overcome to reach their happy ending. While an ordinary writer might have thought dealing with the gay and the race ‘issues’ was enough controversy for one story, this author goes a few steps further and also deals with open relationships, PrEP, and bare-back sex. And yet, the story never felt hurried, purposely controversial, or over the top.

Truth & Betrayal is a slow-burn love story, but it is so much more. It’s a coming of age story too. It’s a book about love; for families, for friends, and for that special person who completes your life. It’s a tale that will break your heart before putting it back together. The book will make you think, ask yourself questions, and make you feel every single emotion you can think of at least once. As per usual with K.C. Wells, the cast of secondary characters is fabulous and I have to say I’m delighted that one of them will be getting a story of his own in the not too distant future.

Long (and not altogether coherent) story short. Truth and Betrayal is the book to read if you want to completely lose yourself in a world filled with emotions. If you like stories and characters that will stay with you for a long time after you’ve closed your reader/paperback, you need to pick this one up. Be prepared to start with tears. It’s not impossible you’ll end with tears too, but those will be of a completely different nature.

As for the question as to what a reviewer does when a favourite author surpasses herself, the answer is simple. You add the title to your list of extra-special books and rate the book six stars, even if you won’t be able to actually award as many on Goodreads or Amazon. Because yes, Truth & Betrayal is that good.

A Christmas Promise by K.C. Wells - A Review

56000 words

Publisher: Island Tales Press

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Payhip

Blurb

The last thing Micah Trant expects to find in the snow by the side of the road, is a badly beaten man. But when Micah discovers his identity, it feels like more than mere coincidence is at work here. Like modern day Good Samaritans, he and his dad offer the stranger a place to recuperate. After all, it’s almost Thanksgiving, and Greg is in no state to travel home. It’s not an entirely altruistic move: Micah wants answers, and he’s not the only one.

Greg cannot believe the way things turned out. The odds of Micah being the one to find him have to be astronomical, but he accepts the kind offer. As days become weeks, Greg learns more about Micah’s family, and comes to realize that staying with them for a Wyoming Christmas might just provide him with the answers he’s been seeking.

The magic of the holidays will also conjure up something neither Micah nor Greg expected…

Review

A Christmas Promise is easiest described as the meeting of four people who all are in desperate need of a Christmas miracle, be it for individual as well as shared reasons. But, you could also call it a story about faith, because some things are just meant to be, and Micah finding Greg, wounded and abandoned in the snow, is surely destined, and not just for the obvious — hey this is a romance after all… — reason.

In fact, while this story is undeniably a romance, there’s a lot more going on than just that. This is a story about love lost and found, a tale shining a light on the beauty of family ties, as well as a glorious example of coincidence — or is it Christmas magic? — saving the day just when things appear darkest. But more than anything else, this is a story about healing, from hurts old and fresh, from injuries physical and mental, and from pain barely recognised or acknowledged. As such this story will touch your heart on more than one occasion, it will bring both happy and sad tears to your eyes and it will leave you uplifted by the time you reached the finale.

This is a slow-burn romance with both Micah and Greg biding their time and being uncertain about what the other might or might not feel towards them. There’s also the fact that Greg has only recently figured out his sexuality and is new to virtually anything he and Micah might engage in. Not to mention a broken leg and other injuries, limiting Greg’s options significantly. Of course the slow burn leaves room for many romantic gestures, and beautiful kissing sessions, but more than anything, it gives the two young men the opportunity to get to know each other.

Of course, since this is a KC Wells’ book, the secondary characters are almost as stunning as our MCs. Both Joshua (Micah’s Dad) and Naomi (his sister) had their own moments to shine and they did so magnificently.

If I had to pick one thing that stood out for me in this book, it is the wonderful balance the author managed to strike between the bleakness of reality and the wonder of (Christmas) magic. Neither would have worked for me without the other, while together they brought me a beautiful, touching, and magical reading experience.

Yes, this is a seasonal story, and it most certainly contains bright, light and sparkly moments. But, it is a lot more than ‘just a bit of fluff'. This is a charming, heartwarming, and ultimately magical tale about things coming full circle. It is, without a doubt, a most wonderful reading experience.

The Little Things by Jay Northcote

The Little Things by Jay Nortcote

New Cover Reveal & Review

Book Information:
Title: The Little Things
Author: Jay Northcote
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: 76,000 words
Genre: Contemporary gay romance
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh
Release Date: November 22nd 2013
Series info: This book is a standalone
The Little Things is also available in paperback and audiobook

          

The blurb:

There are lots of things that brighten Joel’s life. His three-year-old daughter, Evie, is one. His close relationship with her mother, his best friend from university, is another. Joel’s boyfriend, Dan, adds spice to his child-free nights, and Joel is pretty happy with how things are.

Then one cold and rainy night, everything changes. Joel's life is turned upside down when he becomes a full-time dad to Evie, and his previously carefree relationship with Dan cracks under the strain.

Meeting Liam, who acts as if getting hurt isn’t a foregone conclusion, shakes Joel to the core. Their attraction is mutual, and Liam makes no secret of how serious he is about Joel. But Joel is wary. He tells himself he’s keeping Liam at a distance for Evie’s sake, when really he’s protecting his own heart. Taking a chance on this new relationship with Liam may seem a small step—a little thing—but is it one Joel can take after losing so much already?

Buy Links

Dreamspinner Press ׀ Amazon ׀ All Romance ׀ Barnes and Noble

Goodreads link

My thoughts:

Going back to one of the first stories an author ever published after you’ve read and loved (almost) all their later books can be a funny experience. Everything you’ve come to admire in their writing is already there, while it is also very obvious how much the author has grown since then. And that’s exactly what happened when I read The Little Things. Almost from the first sentence this book was recognisable as a Jay Northcote read, and yet there were moments when I thought nowadays the author would probably have done this slightly differently. In the end I decided there was only one criteria I could apply to this book. I asked myself if I would have turned into the fan of Jay Northcote I am, if this had been the first book I’d read by her, and the answer is a resounding ‘abso-fecking-lutely’.

All the elements of Jay’s writing that I’ve come to adore are clearly visible in this first book too: the recognisable, charming and realistic main characters, the easy banter between them, her knack for describing emotions—especially the emotional rollercoaster that is grief—in such a way that you can feel them while still writing a light-on-angst tale, and the steamy interactions between two hot men of course.

This is a different sort of romance. Most of the time a story starts off and ends with the same two characters being together. They may go through their up and downs, but you know X and Y will be the focus of the happy ending. Not so in this book (as the blurb indicates). Initially this pulled me up short, until I thought about it and realised that this is exactly how real life works. Not everybody is equipped to help someone else through their grief or ready to walk into a ready-made family. This doesn’t make Dan a bad person, it just means he’s young and not yet at that point in his life. Once I realised this I appreciated the story so much more. I love when I can picture the story in my book happening in the world around me, and this story was as realistic as they come.

Not for the first time Jay Northcote’s descriptions of what a person goes through after having lost somebody close to them pulled me up short. So much of what Joel goes through mirrored my personal experiences with grief. And because it hit so close to home, I found this story hard to read at times as well as almost impossible to stop thinking about.

All in all this was a charming story I easily lost myself in. I enjoyed getting to know every one of the characters, and adored Joel’s relationship with his little girl, Evie. I may have said this before, but there’s no harm in repeating it: you really can’t go wrong with a Jay Northcote book.

Since I read and reviewed this book because it has been given a new cover, I suppose I should say something about that too. J The new cover is gorgeous, I mean, what’s not to love? Having said that, I had absolutely no issues with the old cover either. I like the old one because it features the two men with the little girl, and cutie-pie Evie is at least as big a part of this particular story as Joel and Liam are. I love the new one because well, like I said, it and the man it features are gorgeous. J

Author Bio:

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England, with her husband, two children, and two cats.

She comes from a family of writers, but she always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed her by. She spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content. One day, she decided to try and write a short story–just to see if she could–and found it rather addictive. She hasn’t stopped writing since.

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