JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

Alison has it all. A doting husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise – she’s just been given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems…

Just one more night. Then I’ll end it.

Alison drinks too much. She’s neglecting her family. And she’s having an affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more than she can handle.

I did it. I killed him. I should be locked up.

Alison’s client doesn’t deny that she stabbed her husband – she wants to plead guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself.

I’m watching you. I know what you’re doing.

But someone knows Alison’s secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for what she’s done, and who won’t stop until she’s lost everything….

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce is a debut thriller novel about murder, sex and family, and one woman’s messy life — personally and professionally.

After working for 15 years, British barrister Alison Wood has just been assigned her first murder case. Madeleine Smith is accused of murdering her husband after she was found next to his body, covered in his blood. Madeleine is ready to confess, and is not interested in a defence. But Alison convinces her otherwise. She knows there’s more to the story, and she’s determined to work hard on the case.

Alison is harbouring a very severe alcohol problem, drinking heavily every night and often coming home very drunk. Her husband Carl is the main carer for their 6-year-old daughter Matilda and he spends most of his time being disappointed in his wife for her behaviour. She’s incredibly neglectful. At one point in the novel, Carl’s friends come over for dinner and Alison gets drunk and screeches out terrible karaoke, and the two guests leave early, embarrassed.

“I look at the dresses hanging up in my wardrobe and pull one out, a wrap dress I’ve always liked. Carl’s never been that keen on it — something about the length — but I think it suits me. I fold it and put it into the bad I’ve laid on the bed…I pull the wrap dress out of the bag and hang it back up again. Then I take out the dress he bought me a couple of Christmases ago, the time we screamed at each other for hours after we’d finished dinner.”

I think some blurb re-wording is needed. In the synopsis, it says Alison has a ‘doting husband’. That should actually read ‘a manipulative, controlling and angry husband’ because that’s no plot twist. It’s clear from the first page we meet him. Actually, at no point in the novel is he ‘doting’. Infuriating, yes. But not doting.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t think Alison is ever a likeable character. She’s too much of a mess to really sympathise for, and her career success is not redeeming enough to make the reader really care for her. She neglects her daughter a lot, and part of me is surprised she’s managed to hold down her job for as long as she has —and be good at it.

Her husband Carl is also not a likeable character, and neither is Alison’s boss Patrick. Alison and Patrick have been having an affair for some time, having rough sex after work and sometimes on weekends. Alison spends too much time wondering if Patrick is seeing anybody else, or sleeping with other women. She spends too much time hoping he’ll text her, or getting mad at him when he doesn’t return her texts or calls. At times, she acts like a teenager with a crush.

When someone finds out about her affair with Patrick and starts sending Alison anonymous, hateful messages as blackmail, she starts to worry for her safety.

“Carl doesn’t say if he’s talked to his mother about looking after Matilda for the night but I don’t want to push it — I know he’ll come around to the idea in his own time. He can see that I mean it, that I’m trying.”

What lets this book down is the obvious, not-at-all subtle hints about Alison’s psychotherapist husband, Carl. He’s clearly gas lighting her. And he’s *SPOILER ALERT* so clearly drugging her at night. She drinks alcohol, he serves her tea or water, and then she blacks out, and then she wakes up the next morning and he tells her she blacked out from the alcohol and makes her feel guilty. It was such an obvious move that I kept rolling my eyes when Alison didn’t realise. Here’s this incredibly talented, hot-shot attorney who completely owns the courtroom, and yet she can’t work out her husband is drugging her?

Additionally, the ‘twist’ in Madeleine Smith’s case was also obvious from when we first meet her and the details of the case are read out. There are just too many clues pasted throughout the novel for the reader not to see these twists coming.

Not a spoiler, but the ending — in relation to Carl — is so quick I had to reread it four times just to check I had understood correctly what had happened. In 2-3 pages, something major happens and it’s so random and personally, I felt that it didn’t fit the book at all. It’s not credible, and is so rushed. And it also means that all of Alison’s problems are solved without her having to doing anything or work that hard to fix things, and that feels like a cop out.

There are a lot of readers out there who will love this — who will love the disastrous, self-destructing marriage between Alison and Carl, and her affair with her boss. There’s a lot of people who have actually loved this book, as I can see from online reviews. But personally, this novel felt really underdeveloped and too chaotic.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blood Orange
Harriet Tyce
March 2019
Hachette Books Australia

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.

When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatised by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog’s care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unravelling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.

In The Friend by Sigrid Nunez, the unnamed female narrator inherits a Great Dane named Apollo after her friend, fellow writer, and former mentor commits suicide. She lives in a 500-square-foot Manhattan apartment, is not allowed to own a dog in the apartment, and it also a self-confessed cat person.

The book is written in second person, directed at the friend who committed suicide, and is the perfect example of when an author executes second person really well in literature.

“Mostly he ignores me. He might as well live here alone. He makes eye contact at times, but instantly looks away again. His large hazel eyes are strikingly human; they remind me of yours… Having your dog is like having a part of you here.”

Suicide is mentioned sporadically, in tune with a human’s tendency to think through issues at different times of the day and in spurts. The narrator will wonder about her friend’s death, and his decision, for a moment or two, and then her thought process will switch to something else. Sigrid has captioned the human experience very well, particularly through the narrator’s internal dialogue.

The tone of the book is mournful, soulful, and rich with remembrance. The narrator is trying to come to terms with her friend’s death, and at times, the reasons behind it. The book shows great friendship between the narrator and her mentor. The two had a long history together, at one point they were intimate but mostly it was just a long-lasting and strong friendship.

At first, Apollo is a burden to the narrator. She takes him reluctantly. The dog is going to cause the narrator to get evicted from her apartment and whenever she leaves the dog for too long, she comes back to find him anxious and depressed. But over time, and particularly in the final third of the book, their friendship and understanding develops and she sees Apollo as a companion.

The fact that Apollo is the only character in the book who is named shows great significance.

“When you’re lying in bed full of night thoughts,” she thinks, “such as why did your friend have to die and how much longer will it be before you lose the roof over your head, having a huge warm body pressed along the length of your spine is an amazing comfort.”

The book is as much about Apollo as it is about writers and writing, since the unnamed narrator is a writer and a writing tutor. She is often disappointed in what her students produce, and addresses her friend when she talks about the quality of the work she’s reading.

At times, the book feels like a blend between fiction and memoir, since Sigrid Nunez is a very accomplished author who may have once grappled with questions surrounding the nature writing that our unnamed narrator does.

The narrator’s friend was a writer and a writing professor, and he was far from perfect. You learn about his multiple marriages and his womanising. He was charming, but he was also a sexist man. He often slept with his female students, of which our narrator was one. His ex-wives, and the narrator’s interactions with them, all give the reader insight into what the character was like and how he affected those around him.

Our narrator doesn’t forget these things. She knows he was flawed, and he made mistakes. But she was also his friend and she loved him. She doesn’t make excuses for him, and quite a few times throughout the book she expresses her anger at him for what he was like when he was alive.

“I am left thinking about the mastiffs. Besides their great bulk and a mane that makes them look part lion, they are known for being fiercely protective and loyal to their masters. So what does a doh bred for those traits feel when its master lets it be herded onto one of those transport trucks? Does a dog understand betrayal?”

The book explores despair, but also understanding and hope. The character doesn’t understand — and didn’t foresee — her friend committing suicide and must learn to accept that she can’t change what happened.

Recommended for literary fiction lovers. Despite being well-written, the book does read a little dry at times and I feel this is a book best discovered by seasoned readers. There isn’t much plot in the book, so it’s really read for the narrative voice and the writing and the relationship between the narrator and her dead friend, and now her relationship with his dog.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Friend
Sigrid Nunez
January 2019
Hachette Book Publishers

Something to Tell You by Lucy Diamond

When Frankie stumbles upon an unopened letter from her late mother, she’s delighted to have one last message from her . . . until she reads the contents and discovers the truth about her birth. Brimming with questions, she travels to York to seek further answers from the Mortimer family, but her appearance sends shockwaves through them all.

Meanwhile, Robyn Mortimer has problems of her own. Her husband John has become distant, and a chance remark from a friend leads Robyn to wonder exactly what he’s not been saying. Dare she find out more?

As for Bunny, she fell head over heels in love with Dave Mortimer when she first arrived in town, but now it seems her past is catching up with her. She can’t help wondering if he’ll still feel the same way about her if he discovers who she really is – and what she did.

As secrets tumble out and loyalties are tested, the Mortimers have to face up to some difficult decisions. With love, betrayal and dramatic revelations in the mix, this is one summer they’ll never forget.

Something to Tell You by Lucy Diamond is a novel about the Mortimer family and the many problems and secrets they all need to confront. The novel begins with Harry Mortimer finding out that he has a daughter called Frankie, the result of an affair he had many decades earlier. It’s a shock for him and for his wife, as well as their children. But after this secret is unveiled, we delve further into the Mortimer family history and find out there are many more secrets being hidden from the family.

“Disappointment had coursed through her, weighting her feet to the floor. Wrong time, wrong place. This was what you got for being hot-headed, for making it all about you, she told herself despairingly…This was her moment. The one she’d been wondering about for so long.”

Something to Tell You is told from many different POVs, which is common in a lot of Lucy Diamond books.

At the beginning, the book is a little overwhelming. There are a lot of characters mentioned and it takes a moment — and a re-read, in my case — for the reader to fully understand who everyone is and how they relate to each other.

The POV switched between women rather quickly so I kept getting the characters mixed up and forgetting who was married to who, and which subplot belonged to which character. I think perhaps there were too many characters in the book and more time should’ve been given to fewer characters to really allow for the reader to relate.

The book explores many different plots and problems, so it’s not just about Frankie meeting her biological father. In fact, that part of the story is quite non-existent for most of the book and Frankie’s storyline in the book is actually more about her relationship with her boyfriend and his child from another woman.

“Fergus didn’t seem to like this idea, leaning against Frankie’s legs and sliding a thumb into his mouth. He stared at the floor and shook his head, no, and Frankie crouched down too, putting a protective arm around his small warm body.”

All of the characters have something they’re worried about, whether it’s a secretive husband or an affair, or a hidden incident from the past that’s threatening to be revealed. There’s plenty in the book to be unpacked — there’s so much for the reader to be intrigued by.

My favourite character was Bunny — she’s sweet and passionate but also anxious and nervous. She’s flawed, but relatable. She’s worried about her past and if the secret she’s keeping will affect her relationship, and I think a lot of women will relate to her insecurities and her self-doubt.

My favourite storyline was Robyn and John Mortimer. Robyn finds out from an acquaintance that John has actually been fired from his job at the university, and it appears to be quite the scandal. She probes him for information, and she even follows him to uncover his secret. What unfolds is shocking for everyone involved.

“Until Robyn met John she had never really held down a very long or enjoyable relationship. She was quite shy and awkward…and never felt as if she was getting the whole boyfriend thing right.”

The book explores female friendship, sisterhood, tragedy, bonding, reconnection, and it also explores the beginnings of relationships and the end of relationship.

I was intrigued in the story and the plot, although I think the book was let down by the pacing and some of the dialogue. The really tense scenes in the book — in particular the scene where Harry Mortimer explains to his family that he has an illegitimate daughter, and also the scene where Jeannie tells Harry that she’s going on their overseas holiday solo — are written too quickly and the conversations progress really fast. The reader experiences a wave of different emotions and the scenes don’t come across realistic or relatable. Additionally, the dialogue is at times forced and unnatural and it can be jolting for the reader.

Recommended for fans of family saga , chick lit, and romance novels.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Something to Tell You
Lucy Diamond
January 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Half Moon Lake by Kirsten Alexander

‘They said he was their boy. And so he was . . .’


In 1913, on a summer’s day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns.

The boy’s mysterious disappearance from the family’s lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards and struggle not to give in to despair.

Then, at the moment when all hope seems lost, the boy is found in the company of a tramp.

But is he truly Sonny Davenport? The circumstances of his discovery raise more questions than answers. And when Grace Mill, an unwed farm worker, travels from Alabama to lay claim to the child, newspapers, townsfolk, even the Davenports’ own friends, take sides.

As the tramp’s kidnapping trial begins, and two desperate mothers fight for ownership of the boy, the people of Opelousas discover that truth is more complicated than they’d ever dreamed . . .

Inspired by the real life kidnapping of American boy Bobby Dunbar, Half Moon Lake by Kirsten Alexander is a fascinating crime novel set in the early 20th century.

This book is about many things, not just a missing child. It’s about class and the treatment of black people in southern America in the early 1900s. It’s about reputation and family, and the opinion of others. It’s about making the wrong decision and then being forced to live with it and work with it, because the ramifications of acknowledging your mistake are too damaging to imagine.

“While he hadn’t expected effusive thanks from a man of John Henry’s stature, Tom had thought his kindness to the man’s wife might have elevated him in his eyes.”

The reader is left wanting more. What happened to Sonny? Where is he now? Who took him? What’s going to happen to Mary and John Henry and Grace? The suspense draws the reader in and keeps them turning the page.

The cast of characters all reflect the time and era that the book is set. Mary and her husband John Henry are upper class, wealthy and implement their influence on those lower down. They get away with what they want. Sure, they have their issues — Mary’s mental state has declined since her son went missing and her father treats her horribly and blames her for the disappearance — but they shield their pain from the outside world and put on this act that they’re coping just fine.

Wealth and status can influence justice in this story, and we see it a couple of times. John Henry is on track for a career in politics and is therefore able to manipulate opinion and processes just because of who he is and where he hopes to go. Other people obey him, and are scared of betraying him.

But how far is he willing to go to keep his wife happy? How far is he willing to go to keep his political career on track?

“Esmerelda felt sorry for Mr and Mrs Davenport sometimes. The reunion hadn’t brought them the peace they’d yearned for. She heard their arguments, barely muted by closed doors. And Mrs Davenport’s mood changed at the whim of the child.”

The blurb of this book makes you believe that this boy could be Sonny Davenport, but in actual fact, it’s made clear pretty early on that Sonny’s mother lies. She desperately wants her boy back, so she convinces herself that this little boy — whose real name is Ned — is actually hers.

When the real mother Grace Mill comes forward and the kidnapping trial ensues, the truth starts to seep out.

The book is rich with emotion and pain, as two women fight for the right to claim this young boy. Grace is an unwed mother and very poor, and she is judged because of her appearance and social standing. Mary, Sonny’s mother, is from a wealthy, well-respected family and therefore more people are likely to side with her.

“John Henry decided to stage the viewing after Christmas. If he had to do it – and it seemed he did – he’d not allow it to ruin the Christmas celebrations his wife had put so much effort into.”

I wondered if more attention should’ve been given to the gossipy nature of the town. Given the time this was set, and the crimes that have been committed, the scope of the gossip around town and the number of people trying to insert themselves into the drama felt kind of small. I didn’t get a strong sense of that ‘small town huge news’ atmosphere where everyone is whispering and passing on news and eavesdropping.

Additionally, I was left feeling dissatisfied with the ending, in a way that made me feel like the ending actually weakened the story. It was too abrupt to seem deliberate, too unresolved to be pleasing.

Recommended for fans of crime, thriller and mystery novels.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Half Moon Lake
Kirsten Alexander
January 2019
Penguin Random House Publishers

REVIEW AND AUTHOR INTERVIEW: The House of Second Chances by Esther Campion

Can a house heal heartache? From coastal Australia to the rugged beauty of Ireland, an enchanting novel of starting over, in the tradition of Maeve Binchy and Monica McInerney.

Their grandmother’s stone cottage was always a welcome retreat in the childhood summers of Ellen and Aidan O’Shea. After a trip home from Australia, Ellen is keen to bring the neglected home back to its former glory and enlists the help of her dear friend and one of Ireland’s top interior designers, Colette Barry.

Aidan is already begrudging the work on the house he has avoided for nearly twenty years. The last thing the builder needs is an interior designer who seems to do nothing but complicate his life. With their own personal heartaches to overcome, will Aidan and Colette find the courage to give the house and themselves a second chance?

The House of Second Chances by Esther Campion is a novel about letting go of past mistakes, failed relationships and learning to let others in. This is Esther’s second novel and explores love, loss, grief and family.

Aidan and Colette have both been in relationships they’d rather not remember. Colette’s ex-husband treated her terribly and cheated on her many times, and Aidan’s ex-girlfriend left and married someone else. Aidan also acts as a babysitter for another ex-girlfriend who likes to offload her daughter onto Aidan on a regular basis.

Both Aidan and Colette like to shut people out, and they keep pretending that they’re happy being single. When they meet, they initially don’t like each other. They fight over what’s best for the house and the renovation of the property. But soon, they start to understand each other and friendship develops.

“The whole group were looking at him. Oh man! He’d half hoped he might find the seat beside Colette empty for once and enjoy his pint while actually having a civil conversation with the girl. This was not how he’d planned it.”

At first I was a little taken aback with how people spoke to Aidan about his weight. Aidan acknowledges that he weighs more than he used to, and he’s let his fitness slip. His internal dialogue reflects what a lot of people who feel unfit think about themselves. They know they need to eat healthier, exercise more.

But Aidan’s friends and family outwardly comment about his weight and Aidan just takes it. He seems like the kind of character who isn’t afraid to speak his mind, so it seemed a little surprising that he just accepted everyone’s jokes and remarks without sniping back. Even though he thought their comments were justified, I would’ve expected a character like Aidan to respond differently to how he did.

“Ben Dineen cut a fit-looking figure in a designer polo shirt that showed off his biceps. Aidan imagined the six-pack concealed under the shirt tucked into the belted chinos. Lucky bastard, he thought, drawing the sides of his open jacket together to cover the gut that had brought him to this.”

The grandmother’s cottage in the book read like a character, it held such a strong significance to the plot and to the characters’ journeys. It holds memories and is therefore an important place for the characters, but renovating the house is also about moving forward and reflecting on what’s transpired.

Esther brings a range of characters to this story, all of whom are struggling with something. Grace and Ben are having silent fights and communication is needed to overcome their issues. Aidan’s ex-girlfriend Jane keeps running back to her problematic boyfriend despite him being a bad influence on her and her daughter. Colette’s new work experience kid Shane is rebellious and troubled, but is really skilled at drawing. These are just a few of the side characters who enrich the story.

“She’d wanted a daughter too. But this was no time to be maudlin. She had bills to pay, a mother to look after as she got older and, down the track, her own senior years to secure. She’d worked her socks off and would continue to do so. A partnership would just make it more her own.”

Initially, it was really hard to wrap your head around the characters. In the opening chapters of the book, Esther seems to introduce just about every character in the book and it was easy to get lost in all the information because it felt like an information dump. I would’ve preferred if the characters were drip fed a bit more, without so much background information all at once.

Perfect for readers who love family sagas, romance novels, and heartwarming and heartfelt stories.

***

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH ESTHER CAMPION

Firstly, tell us a little bit about your latest novel, The House of Second Chances
This book is set around the renovation of an old farmhouse in West Cork, a beautiful part of Ireland. Builder, Aidan O’ Shea, has been avoiding his grandmother’s house for almost twenty years, but when his sister in Australia decides to turn the house into a business, he is thrust on to the project along with Ellen’s interior designer friend, Colette Barry. Colette is keen to get on with the job but when her ideas come up against resistance from Aidan, she is in for some challenging times. Both Aidan and Colette are struggling with the hurts of past lives, but the house presents an opportunity for healing, if only they can get out of their own way.

You live in Tasmania but you’re from Ireland. Do you find inspiration from your surroundings, both past and present?
Very much so. Ireland runs through my veins, so I think I will always enjoy writing stories set there. In terms of places I’ve moved to, it takes a while for the landscape and the people to get under my skin. For example, I have lived in Tasmania for six years and it is only now that I have come to write about it in what will hopefully be my next novel.

In The House of Second Chances, grandma’s stone cottage feels like a character. How do you go about capturing the atmosphere and feel of a location, especially when it plays such a big role in a book?
I am delighted to hear you say the house was like another character as I didn’t consciously write it as such. The house has a very distinct past, a vibrant present and, by the end of the book, also hope for the future, so I definitely like your idea of seeing it as a character. I also feel its former owner, grandmother Lizzie O’ Shea, is kept alive through the house and she is a character I kept coming back to as memories of her as she lived in the house set the tone for the place. Crookhaven, where the fictional house is located, is a place I love to visit. I imagine my characters walking the hills and beaches, drinking in the pub, chatting to the locals and setting the world to rights.

Do you have to undertake any research when writing your books?
I dabble in the research side of things as I go. For settings, I draw on photographs and memories from times I lived in or visited places. If I haven’t been to a place or can’t remember details, I will interview someone who has. My husband is also a great sounding board and source of knowledge. Thankfully, he’s always interested enough to listen. He doesn’t write but loves reading, especially the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.

What element of novel writing do you most struggle with?
Honestly, it’s the physical aches and pains. When I’m in the zone, I sit for far too long without leaving the desk and pay for it later. Thanks to your question, I will try to remember to use my timer!

What element of novel writing do you think is your biggest strength?
I like writing dialogue, but you’d have to ask my readers what they like best. Maybe some readers of your blog will leave a comment and let me know.

What do you like to read? What do you look for when deciding your next purchase?
I think we’re all influenced by the steady stream of emails and Facebook posts announcing the top reads for each month and what we should be reading. I’m quite a slow reader, so although I would love to read all of these popular works, I’m usually about a year behind by the time a book reaches the top of my ‘To Be Read’ pile. I am currently reading Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks which has leap-frogged on to the top of the pile because I love Nicholas Sparks and reading about Africa. One of the perks of being an author is receiving free bound proofs of soon-to-be-released novels. That makes me get a move on and I am looking forward to reading Natasha Lester’s last and next novels once I’m finished with Nicholas.

Finally, what are the you working on next?
I am writing a novel set in Ireland and Tasmania and for now, that’s about all I can say on the matter.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The House of Second Chances
Esther Campion
February 2019
Hachette Book Publishers

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